A real-time collision-avoidance algorithm for human-symbiotic robot that is required to avoid multiple pedestrians was developed. An algorithm to predict the likelihood of a collision with obstacles was based on the relative velocities between a moving robot and multiple obstacles. An algorithm that can generate the optimum path sequence to a goal in real time was also developed. The collision-avoidance path is generated by repeating an operation to select two tangent paths that connect a via-point on a path to a collision circle of each obstacle that exists in the relative space. A robot-called "EMIEW"-using these algorithms with a system for avoiding collisions with many obstacles moves at a speed of 0.8 m/s in a cluster of five people walking at 1.2 m/s -speed. The repeat period for generating a new avoidance path is 0.5s, and the processing time for the developed algorithm in the each period is less than 4 ms.
We are developing a robot that will support people in their daily lives, i.e., a human-symbiotic robot. This kind of robot is required to coexist with users, be user friendly, and be capable of supporting them. As a first step to achieving the last goal, we have developed an autonomous mobile robot that makes use of a self-balancing two-wheeled mobility system and a body swing mechanism to shift its center of gravity. This allows it to move nimbly at up to six kilometers per hour. It also has capabilities that enable it to avoid collisions with obstacles and move safely through complex environments. It is able to interact with people naturally without special tools by means of distant-speech recognition and high-quality speech-synthesis technologies. These capabilities were demonstrated at the 2005 World Exposition Aichi Japan.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.