THIS PAPER PRESENTS A METHOD FOR REAL-TIME OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE FOR NON-POINT MOBILE ROBOTS. WITH THIS METHOD, LARGE, ODDLY SHAPED (E.G., DISPROPORTIONALLY LONG OR WIDE VEHICLES), OR MOBILE ROBOTS CARRYING AN OVERHANGING PAYLOAD CAN SAFELY AND RELIABLY NAVIGATE IN THE CLOSE PROXIMITY OF OBSTACLES AND IN CONFINED SPACE, WHILE USING INACCURATE RANGE SENSORS FOR REAL-TIME OBSTACLE DETECTION. THIS METHOD IS BASED ON THE COMBINATION OF TWO OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE METHODS DEVELOPED PREVIOUSLY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. THE PREVIOUS METHODS ARE THE VIRTUAL FORCE FIELD (VFF) METHOD, WHICH IS BASED ON POTENTIAL FIELDS, AND THE VECTOR FIELD HISTOGRAM (VFH) METHOD, WHICH IS BASED ON SPATIAL INTERPRETATION OF SENSORY DATA. THE COMBINED METHOD IS CALLED THE COMBINED VECTORY FIELD (CVF). WITH THIS METHOD, THE PRINCIPAL STEERING DIRECTION IS DETERMINED BY THE VFH ALGORITHM, WHILE THE VFF ALGORITHM APPLIE