A mobile robot testbed with manipulator for security guard application

A mobile robot with a manipulator was developed for a security guard service application. The application image is that a robot patrols the building autonomously and checks for emergencies like fire, intruder, etc. On detecting an emergency the robot informs a remote operator who deals with the emergency by remotely operating the robot. The developed robot has the following functions to perform such a security service: autonomous navigation, master-slave manipulation system with force feedback, a remotely operated camera vision system with wide and stereoscopic view modes. The experiments conducted with the robot show that the robot can navigate autonomously in simple environments with a maximum speed of 1 m/s. A remote operator can perform door-opening using the master-slave manipulator and stereo viewing vision systems. This paper describes the various subsystems of the robot and some findings of the experiments