Publication: Sistema de navegación para robots sociales basado en señales
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2012-06
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2012-06-11
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Abstract
La autonomía de un robot es uno de los principales objetivos que los investigadores en robótica se han trazado en las últimas décadas. Lograr esto abarca un abanico muy amplio de sub-objetivos, dependiendo de la funcionalidad final del robot y las potenciales tareas que podría realizar. Así como en los humanos nos ha sido vital para nuestra supervivencia movernos por el entorno y llegar a un lugar o destino específico, para un robot móvil la navegación es una tarea primordial. Cuando nos movemos por entornos desconocidos necesitamos saber nuestra ubicación en el contexto espacial ( edificio, calle, barrio, ciudad...), la ubicación del lugar destino (o al menos la dirección en que se encuentra) y cómo ir a ese lugar. Al no tener conocimientos previos, la señalización en el entorno se convierte en un elemento primordial para alcanzar el objetivo. La señalización es el conjunto de elementos colocados en el entorno que, mediante indicaciones gráficas, auditivas o táctiles, guían y ayudan a las personas a navegar en un área o edificio. La señalización sirve de soporte para la orientación en un espacio a un lugar determinado y facilita la accesibilidad a los servicios requeridos dando seguridad en los desplazamientos y las acciones. A menudo las personas necesitamos llegar a un sitio determinado sin tener conocimiento previo del entorno en que nos movemos, bien sea porque es la primera vez que estamos en ese lugar o porque no disponemos de un mapa que nos ayude a orientarnos. Así como los humanos debemos enfrentarnos a este tipo de situaciones, un robot autónomo que deba moverse por el entorno también debe ser capaz de resolver este problema de forma natural, usando los recursos que encuentre en el entorno para llegar satisfactoriamente a la meta. En esta tesis se presenta un sistema de señalización con el principal objetivo de orientar e informar al robot para que éste pueda cumplir su meta de navegación. Este sistema comprende desde el diseño físico de la señal y el tipo de señales que se utilizarán hasta el algoritmo de navegación que especifica el proceso de búsqueda de las señales y su interpretación, para que el robot ejecute las acciones necesarias para alcanzar el destino asignado. También se propone un sistema de escritura de las señales del entorno, de modo que el robot pueda interactuar con las personas para adquirir la información de las señales que se quieren escribir y así automatizar el proceso de señalización. Para la implementación del sistema de señalización se ha escogido utilizar los sistemas de Identificación por Radio Frecuencia (RFID), ya que son un buen recurso para enriquecer la información que un robot puede obtener del entorno, acelerando considerablemente el proceso de lectura de las señales sin depender de factores ambientales como la luz, además que son de bajo coste, no perjudican la transitabilidad de las personas ni la de los robots y no ejercen impacto en el entorno. Los sistemas descritos se han integrado e implementado con éxito en el robot social Maggie del Robotics Lab de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The autonomy of a robot is one of the main objectives that researchers in robotics have been set in the last decades. Achieving this goal includes a very wide range of subobjectives, depending on the final functionality and the potential tasks that a robot can do. Just as the movement through the environment and getting to a place or a specific destination has been vital for human survival, for a mobile robot navigation is a basic task. When we move through unfamiliar environments we need to know our location in the spatial context (building, street, neighbourhood, city...), the location of the destination (or at least the direction in which it is) and how to go there. With no prior knowledge, signalling in the environment becomes a key element to achieve our objective. Signalling is the set of items placed in the environment that, by means of graphical displays, auditory or tactile guides help people navigate in an area or building. Signalling acts as a support for guidance in space to a given location and facilitates the accessibility of required services providing security in movements and actions. Often, people need to go to a particular site without having prior knowledge of the environment in which we move, whether it is the first time we are in that place or if we do not have a map. Just as humans have to deal with these types of situations, an autonomous robot that moves through the environment must also be capable of solving this problem in a natural way, using the resources that it finds in the environment to satisfactorily reach the goal. This thesis presents a signage system with the main purpose of guiding and informing the robot so that it can fulfill its navigational goal. This system begins from the physical design of the signal and the type of signals to be used to the navigation algorithm that specifies the search process signals and their interpretation, so that the robot can execute the necessary actions to reach the assigned destination. This work also proposes a system of writing the environmental signals, so that the robot can interact with people to acquire the information of the signals that must be written and thus automatize the process of signalling. For the implementation of the signalling system we have chosen the Radio Frequency Identification systems (RFID), because these are good resources to enrich the information that a robot can get from the environment, considerably accelerating the process of reading the signals without depending on environmental factors such as light. In addition, the tags used are low cost, do not impair the trafficability of people or robots and have no impact on the environment. The described systems have been integrated and implemented successfully in the social robot Maggie, the Robotics Lab robot at the Carlos III University of Madrid.
The autonomy of a robot is one of the main objectives that researchers in robotics have been set in the last decades. Achieving this goal includes a very wide range of subobjectives, depending on the final functionality and the potential tasks that a robot can do. Just as the movement through the environment and getting to a place or a specific destination has been vital for human survival, for a mobile robot navigation is a basic task. When we move through unfamiliar environments we need to know our location in the spatial context (building, street, neighbourhood, city...), the location of the destination (or at least the direction in which it is) and how to go there. With no prior knowledge, signalling in the environment becomes a key element to achieve our objective. Signalling is the set of items placed in the environment that, by means of graphical displays, auditory or tactile guides help people navigate in an area or building. Signalling acts as a support for guidance in space to a given location and facilitates the accessibility of required services providing security in movements and actions. Often, people need to go to a particular site without having prior knowledge of the environment in which we move, whether it is the first time we are in that place or if we do not have a map. Just as humans have to deal with these types of situations, an autonomous robot that moves through the environment must also be capable of solving this problem in a natural way, using the resources that it finds in the environment to satisfactorily reach the goal. This thesis presents a signage system with the main purpose of guiding and informing the robot so that it can fulfill its navigational goal. This system begins from the physical design of the signal and the type of signals to be used to the navigation algorithm that specifies the search process signals and their interpretation, so that the robot can execute the necessary actions to reach the assigned destination. This work also proposes a system of writing the environmental signals, so that the robot can interact with people to acquire the information of the signals that must be written and thus automatize the process of signalling. For the implementation of the signalling system we have chosen the Radio Frequency Identification systems (RFID), because these are good resources to enrich the information that a robot can get from the environment, considerably accelerating the process of reading the signals without depending on environmental factors such as light. In addition, the tags used are low cost, do not impair the trafficability of people or robots and have no impact on the environment. The described systems have been integrated and implemented successfully in the social robot Maggie, the Robotics Lab robot at the Carlos III University of Madrid.
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Robótica, Robots sociales, Sistema de navegación, RFID, Sistema de señales