Michael Göller

Proactive avoidance of moving obstacles for a service robot utilizing a behavior-based control

A main challenge in the application of service robotics is safe and reliable navigation of robots in human everyday environments. Supermarkets, which are chosen here as an example, pose a challenging scenario because they usually have a cluttered and nested character. The robot has to avoid collisions with static and even with moving obstacles while interacting with nearby humans or a dedicated user respectively. This paper presents a hierarchical approach for the proactive avoidance of moving objects as it is used on the robot shopping trolley InBOT. The behavior-based control (bbc) of InBOT is extended by a reflex and a reactive behavior to ensure adequate reaction times when confronted with a possible collision. On top of the bbc a spatio-temporal planner is situated which is able to predict environmental changes and therefore can generate a safe movement sequence accordingly.

Robust navigation system based on RFID transponder barriers for the interactive behavior-operated shopping trolley (InBOT)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a navigation system designed for highly dynamic environments which is independent from a metrically exact global map.Design/methodology/approach – A navigation system is developed to cope with highly dynamic environments. Here, this refers especially to changes in the environment itself, like the daily deployment or removal of advertisements or special offers in a supermarket. The navigation system is split into a global part, relying on non‐concealable artificial landmarks and a local part containing a behavior‐based control using a dynamic potential field approach. The required information are the definitively static structures and the actual sensor information only.Findings – The system proved to be useful in environments that change frequently and where the presence of many people complicates the perception of landmarks.Practical implications – The presented navigation system is robust against changes in the environment and provides reliable collision ...

Sharing of control between an interactive shopping robot and it's user in collaborative tasks

An important challenge in service robotics is to design user interfaces and interaction capabilities that can be used intuitively to enable the potential users to benefit from the robots functionalities and to allow effective collaborative task execution. The Interactive Behavior Operated shopping Trolley (InBOT) addresses this issue at the example of supporting complex shopping tasks in large supermarkets. The actual control of the robot is shared or traded between the robot and its dedicated user ranging from closely coupled haptic-based interaction via observation-based interaction up to loosely coupled command-based interaction. The four modes of operation of InBOT, i.e. the manual steering, following, guiding and autonomous mode, the transitions between them and the relevant modalities of interaction are introduced. Finally the paper is completed by describing the results of user studies.

Regelungsstrategie für zweibeiniges elastisches Laufen mittels „Virtual Model Control“

Ziel dieses Vorhabens ist die technische Umsetzung des „elastischen Laufens“ durch die Realisierung biomechanisch motivierter Regelungsstrategien. Als dafur notigen elastischen Antrieb wird ein kunstlicher Muskel nach dem McKibben-Prinzip verwendet. Dieser Muskel zeigt trotz einiger Nachteile sehr ahnliches statisches und dynamisches Verhalten wie der biologische Muskel und hat sich daher fur dieses Vorhaben als idealer Antrieb herausgestellt. Mit Hilfe des „Virtual Model Control“ wird eine Regelung fur elastisches Gehen entworfen, welche direkt und indirekt die Eigenschaften der Muskeln fur eine flussige, energieeffiziente Bewegung verwendet.