Development of a robot with photography service as a RT-middleware application for the widespread use of robots

A robot with photography service has been developed using Robot Technology (RT)-middleware which is a standard robot middleware. Here, the human detection component, using a camera and a laser range sensor, and the photography component have been newly developed as general purpose components of the RT-middleware. The robot can locate human subjects, move into position, adjust the angle of the camera view, and take a photograph. The developed robot consists of several RT components, and it can be used as a platform for a service robot. This paper describes the robot´s system and its ability to take a photograph; moreover, its performance is also verified by comparing with another robot. The use of such a standard middleware from the viewpoint of the widespread use of robots is very important.