A Walk Support System for Two Distant Persons using Mobile Robots

作为实现行为的通信的方法，新提出了用于两个相距遥远的人的远程步行伙伴系统。一对人由一个移动的机器人陪同，作为每个人的遥现的补充。机器人相互通信相邻人类的测量位置，并模仿远程人类的运动。该系统可以提供两个人之间更接近的存在感。首先，构建了用于测量人的位置的传感器系统。根据激光测距仪获得的数据计算人的位置。考虑到传感器数据的误差，使用卡尔曼滤波器获得了更好的位置估计。接下来，研究了将测量的人体位置传输到远程机器人的通信方法和实现远程人行走行为的两种运动控制方法。在第一运动控制方法中，机器人基于测量的人的运动矢量移动。在第二种方法中，机器人保持两个位置之间的相对位置关系。通过实验验证了该系统的有效性。两个机器人被放在远处的两个人旁边。当两个人直线行走时，远程行走通过第一运动控制方法成功。通过第二种运动控制方法建立了两种环境彼此不同（e.g.one

A remote walking partner system for two distant persons is newly proposed as a method for realizing communication of behaviors. A pair of persons is accompanied by a mobile robot as a complement of tele-presence of the each person. The robots communicate measured position of the adjacent human with each other and mimic the movement of the remote human. The system can provide a closer feeling of presence between two people.First, the sensor system for measuring the position of the person was constructed. The position of the person is calculated from the data obtained by the laser range finder. The better estimation of the position is obtained using the Kalman filter considering the error of the sensor data.Next, the communication method for transferring the measured human position to the remote robot and two motion control methods for realizing the walking behavior of the remote person were examined. In the first motion control method, the robot moves based on the measured motion vector of the human. In the second method, the robot keeps the relative position relationship between two places.The developed sensors were mounted on the mobile robots. The effectiveness of the system was verified through the experiments. Two robots were put on the side of two distant persons. The remote walk succeeded by the first motion control method when two persons walked straight. A complicated case where two environments was different from each other (e.g.one path is straight and the other is curve) was established by the second motion control method.