Automatic docking system for recharging home surveillance robots

This paper presents the development and characterization of a surveillance robot with automatic docking and recharging capabilities for home security. The proposed system is composed of a surveillance robot and a docking station. The palm-sized surveillance robot has a triangular shape with three wheels. It communicates with the general wireless home router through WiFi. It communicates with the docking station through ZigBee and serves as a mobile wireless sensor network gateway. The docking station has a trapezoidal structure with an arc-shaped docking interface. A docking method based on the self-localization of the robot and the infrared detectors of the docking station is proposed. The robot can return to the docking station for recharging operations when the on-board battery is too low. The experimental results show that the prototype robot achieved a success rate of 90% after 60 different docking attempts.