Development of a basic function for a following robot in crowded environment

Abstract

We developed a basic function of a following robot by RT Middleware. In this study, our robot has a depth sensor and a laser rangefinder. The depth sensor detects people and gets torso. The laser rangefinder detects an object and distance from it. We developed a following function and avoiding colliding function. Our robot could lock on and follow a person in crowded environment. From experiments, a robot stopped when an obstacle was found. a robot can stop going when the robot loses sight of a target. In addition, it restarted following if robot could detect the torso again. In the future, we will consider target characterization and avoid obstacles automatically.