Autonomous navigation for mobile service robots in urban pedestrian environments

Robot-assisted pedestrian flow control of a controlled pedestrian corridor

Pedestrian evacuation and modification of traffic facilities were previously studied to increase the traffic efficiency and the safety of pedestrians. In this article, we first design a new robot-assisted pedestrian control scheme. We consider a different scenario that the inflow of all the entrances to the corridor can be controlled by mobile robots. Based on the collected image data of the experimental corridor, we obtain the regulated pedestrian velocity and build the relationship function between the adjustable motion frequency of the robot and the regulated pedestrian velocity. To achieve the optimal traffic flow in the designed scenario, we set up the macroscopic pedestrian model for the modified unidirectional pedestrian corridor with several controlled entrances. The pedestrian inflow of each entrance is controlled by adjusting the motion frequency of the robot moving in a transverse direction. Then the state feedback controller is designed and the stability of the controller is analyzed based on the Lyapunov stability theory. The theoretical analysis guides the movement of robots. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the controlled pedestrian system. Our study can flexibly manage the pedestrian flow by applying advanced robotics technology on macro level, which can provide ideal global control effect.

Autonomous Pedestrian Push Button Activation by Outdoor Mobile Robot in Outdoor Environments

The authors have developed an outdoor mobile robot that has the ability to cross roads at an intersection or pedestrian crossing fully autonomously while traveling along sidewalks in an urban environment. This gives the robot the capability to travel longer and complex routes as the robot is able to cross a road and continue with its path. The developed robot has the unique ability to autonomously approach and activate the pedestrian push button with a mechanical finger. We first briefly describe the overall operation of such a road crossing robot. The rest of this paper then discusses in detail how the robot can meticulously navigate to and activate the pedestrian push button with the on-board finger. The contribution of this work is that although there are robots existing that perform precision docking or button activation, this robot is one of the few that can perform such an action in a real world outdoor environment that is completely unmodified. We prove this by deploying the robot in a real world road-crossing and it was successfully able to engage the pedestrian push button.

Cooperative social robots to accompany groups of people

This study proposes a new model for guiding people in urban settings using multiple robots that work cooperatively. More specifically, this investigation describes the circumstances in which people might stray from the formation when following different robots’ instructions. To this end, we introduce a ‘prediction and anticipation model’ that predicts the position of the group using a particle filter, while determining the optimal robot behavior to help people stay in the group in areas where they may become distracted. As a result, this article presents a novel approach to locally optimizing the work performed by robots and people using the minimum robots’ work criterion and determining human-friendly types of movements. The guidance missions were carried out in urban areas that included multiple conflict areas and obstacles. This study also provides an analysis of robots’ behavioral reactions to people by simulating different situations in the locations that were used for the investigation. The method was tested through simulations that took into account the difficulties and technological constraints derived from real-life situations. Despite these problematic issues, we were able to demonstrate the robots’ effect on people in real-life situations in terms of pushing and dragging forces.