Mobile service robots for inspection, surveillance and transport

Mobile robots have to potential to be used for a broad range of industrial applications in the future and even today. This presentation shows examples of the use of mobile robots in the area of security, transportation and inspection. It also contents short descriptions of two key technologies, which are autonomous navigation and assisted tele-operation. The presentation starts with navigation, focusing on path-planning and obstacle avoidance. The mobile robot Secur-O-bot is then shown as an example for the security application, including the extension by autonomous sensor probes. The example of a mobile mini bar shows that transportation is not only interesting in industrial applications but also in domestic and service areas. This example also shows the portability of the IPA navigation software to other hardware setups. The last example is a mobile robot for the inspection of offshore oil and gas platforms. This is an example for extreme environmental conditions for service robots indicating the flexibility of the application of service robot technologies. The presentation ends with an outlook to ongoing research in the area of assisted tele-operation