A Game Between Two Identical Dubins Cars: Evading a Conic Sensor in Minimum Time

Abstract: A fundamental task in mobile robotics is keeping an intelligent agent under surveillance with an autonomous robot as it travels in the environment. This work studies a theoretical version of that problem involving one of the most popular vehicle platforms in robotics. In particular, we consider two identical Dubins cars moving on a plane without obstacles. One of them plays as the pursuer, and it is equipped with a limited field-of-view detection region modeled as a semi-infinite cone with its apex at the pursuer's position. The pursuer aims to maintain the other Dubins car, which plays as the evader, as much time as possible inside its detection region. On the contrary, the evader wants to escape as soon as possible. In this work, employing differential game theory, we find the time-optimal motion strategies near the game's end. The analysis of those trajectories reveals the existence of at least two singular surfaces: a Transition Surface (also known as a Switch Surface) and an Evader's Universal Surface. We also found that the barrier's standard construction produces a surface that partially lies outside the playing space.