Autonomous and Interactive Control of a Mobile Robot

An autonomous and interactive control of a mobile robot is a desired asset to the Robotics Systems Laboratory (RSL) at Santa Clara University and to the food automation company, L2F. This benefits their future endeavors of having helpful cobots navigate and assist entities in their respective environments. This paper documents the development of software for a cobot that satisfies the basic requirements for easy and safe control of an autonomous robot within a dynamic environment. The completed software includes the ability for the cobot to track a person and then autonomously follow that person around at a safe following distance and a safe speed. If the cobot collides with an object while navigating, it stops almost instantaneously. Furthermore, the software enables the cobot to be told to go to a straight-ahead destination within a room and then navigate to that destination using a positioning system. Another function provided with the cobot is for the user to take over control of the cobot with a touch joystick on a tablet. Lastly, all of these different functions can be selected or switched between using a tablet interface for control. Overall, the software developed for the cobot satisfies basic requirements provided by the RSL and L2F to have safe and straightforward control of the cobot. The software provides the foundation for future research and academics and professional efforts in developing a complete system for all desired functionalities desired by SCU and L2F