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Autonomous robotics is a field with many promising applications. Things like lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners pop into mind, as well as more playful ideas like an "intelligent" electronic pet or a tinny party servant. However, the commercially available robots today are very limited in functionality. These limitations could be overcome soon by the availability of better and cheaper sensors and more computing power.
Simple autonomous lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners presently exist. We have experimented with both, the
Husqvarna Auto Mover and the
Electrolux Trilobite vacuum cleaner. It is amazing how good the result is regarding the simplicity of the design. However, many restrictions apply. For example the manovering area must be delimited mechanically or by wires, which is only practical in special premises. In addition, the robots simply move around randomly and by moving around long enough they eventually will cover every single spot in their area. Effective, but not particularly efficient.
To build more intelligently acting and self-dependent robots quite a few challenges must be met:
- Navigation: the robot must be able to position itself within its moving area.
- Situation awareness: the robot must recognize special circumstances and react accordingly (Obstacles, rain, people and pets, stairs etc).
- Strategy: the robot needs a strategy on how to fulfil its mission. It must be able to adjust this strategy dynamically, recover from errors and continue its mission or abort it cleanly.
Much research has gone into these problem areas. Usually the solutions are expensive with regard to sensors, processing power, bandwidth etc. With the emergence of cheap sensors used today in consumer products (video camera, anti lock breaks, PC industry) and with the availability of cheap embedded processing power these solutions come within reach for an everyday product.
We are monitoring the development in this interesting and promising field attentively. If you need an innovative approach to mobile robotics, don't hesitate to contact us.
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