The main idea behind APF is to conceive the robot as an electrically-charged particle influenced by a charged field generated by the goal position and the obstacles i.e. the particle is attracted by the goal configuration and repelled by obstacles through potential fields Uatt and Urep respectively.
La filosofía de este método es concebir el robot como una partícula eléctrica que es atraída hacia su configuración final qgoal mediante un potencial atractivo Uatt, a la vez que es repelida por los obstáculos por medio de un potencial repulsivo propio Urep.