Human Following Robot System That Integrates Global and Local Following for Smartphone Users

Abstract

This paper introduces a mobile robot system that follows smartphone users. Especially, a human following robot system integrating “global” and “local” following is introduced. “Global human following” means that the robot follows the global trajectory of the target human. This is required to keep following when missing the targets in crowded environments. We propose a global human following system with Wi-Fi radio intensity and occupancy grid maps. Map representation named as “Wi-Fi-based waypoint map” is proposed for global following. The map representation consists of global waypoints based on Wi-Fi radio field strength and occupancy grid map of the robot. Rough positions of the target human with the smartphone are selected in the Wi-Fi-based waypoint map and the mobile robot travels to the positions autonomously. Then, global human following is achieved. This paper shows some experimental results for calling robot and following human using Wi-Fi-based waypoint map. Also, a method local following of the human with the smartphone is introduced in order to complete the system as a total human following system.