Transport services on indoor map generating system using spatially distributed RFID tags for home environment

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology for generating an indoor map of the home environment using widely installed RFID tags, which is being experimentally developed in the model room in the WABOT-HOUSE Laboratory[1]. Our laboratory is studying a system that generates and renews an environmental map of a room in real time in cooperation with three subsystems: a tag infrastructure where many RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags are widely installed over the environment, indoor RT(Robot Technology) modules, such as robots and furniture with embedded computing technology, and a home server module that monitors their spatial information. In this paper, we describe the basic concept and contents of the system, then we propose a method of localizing the robot and of moving to a destination while avoiding obstacles. Finally we report an experiment on which the robot succeed in advancing to a resident in the room, as an example of transport services making use of our system.