Hiding strategies for a mobile robot in hostile obstacle strewn environments

A robot working in a hostile environment should be equipped with the necessary risk-avoidance intelligence to survive and accomplish an assigned mission. Covert robotics is a relatively new field in which covert navigation abilities are developed for robots to carry out a mission with minimal potential observation from known or unknown vantage points, with occluding obstacles as the only means of maintaining covertness. The ability to 'hide' in order to minimize the risk of being detected is the focus of this paper. A number of strategies are presented that deal with various assumptions about the environment and the hostile observers' locations. The hiding strategies presented for different cases ensure choosing a proper hiding point while taking into account the risk of the chosen path to it.