A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of

locomotion Locomotion means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place. Locomotion may refer to: Motion * Motion (physics) * Robot locomotion, of man-made devices By environment * Aquatic locomotion * Flight * Locomoti ...

.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,
Group Coordinated Control of Networked Mobile Robots with Applications to Object Transportation
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2021. Mobile robotics is usually considered to be a subfield of

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...

and

information engineering Information engineering is the engineering discipline that deals with the generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data, and knowledge in systems. The field first became identifiable in the early 21st century. The component ...

. Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location. Mobile robots can be "autonomous" (AMR - autonomous mobile robot) which means they are capable of navigating an uncontrolled environment without the need for physical or electro-mechanical guidance devices.Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Jang, I.; Arvin, F.; Lanzon, A.,
A Decentralized Cluster Formation Containment Framework for Multirobot Systems
IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2021. Alternatively, mobile robots can rely on guidance devices that allow them to travel a pre-defined navigation route in relatively controlled space.Hu, J.; Turgut, A.; Lennox, B.; Arvin, F.,
Robust Formation Coordination of Robot Swarms with Nonlinear Dynamics and Unknown Disturbances: Design and Experiments
IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, 2021. By contrast,

industrial robots An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes. Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, assembly, disassembly, pick ...

are usually more-or-less stationary, consisting of a

jointed arm A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...

(multi-linked manipulator) and

gripper A ''gripper'' is something that grips things or makes it easier to grip things. It may refer to: * grippers Grippers, sometimes called hand grippers, are primarily used for testing and increasing the strength of the hands; this specific for ...

assembly (or

end effector In robotics, an end effector is the device at the end of a robotic arm, designed to interact with the environment. The exact nature of this device depends on the application of the robot. In the strict definition, which originates from serial ro ...

), attached to a fixed surface. The joint. Mobile robots have become more commonplace in commercial and industrial settings. Hospitals have been using autonomous mobile robots to move materials for many years. Warehouses have installed mobile robotic systems to efficiently move materials from stocking shelves to order fulfillment zones. Mobile robots are also a major focus of current research and almost every major university has one or more labs that focus on mobile robot research. Mobile robots are also found in industrial,

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

and security settings. The components of a mobile robot are a controller, sensors, actuators and power system. The controller is generally a microprocessor, embedded microcontroller or a personal computer (PC). The sensors used are dependent upon the requirements of the robot. The requirements could be

dead reckoning In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating current position of some moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and then incorporating estimates of speed, heading direction, and course over elapsed time. T ...

tactile Tactile may refer to: * Tactile, related to the sense of touch * Haptics (disambiguation) * Tactile (device), a text-to-braille translation device See also * Tangibility, in law * Somatosensory system In physiology, the somatosensory system ...

and

proximity sensing A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. A proximity sensor often emits an electromagnetic field or a beam of electromagnetic radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks for ...

, triangulation ranging, collision avoidance, position location and other specific applications. Actuators usually refer to the motors that move the robot can be wheeled or legged. To power a mobile robot usually we use DC power supply (which is battery) instead of AC.

Classification

Mobile robots may be classified by: * The environment in which they travel: ** Land or home robots are usually referred to as

Unmanned Ground Vehicles An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground and without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it may be inconvenient, dangerous, or impossible to have a human op ...

(UGVs). They are most commonly wheeled or tracked, but also include

legged robot Legged robots are a type of mobile robot which use articulated limbs, such as leg mechanisms, to provide locomotion. They are more versatile than wheeled robots and can traverse many different terrains, though these advantages require increased ...

s with two or more legs (

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20 ...

, or resembling animals or insects). ** Delivery & Transportation robots can move materials and supplies through a work environment ** Aerial robots are usually referred to as

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

(UAVs) ** Underwater robots are usually called

autonomous underwater vehicles In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

(AUVs) **Polar robots, designed to navigate icy,

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

filled environments * The device they use to move, mainly: **

Legged robot Legged robots are a type of mobile robot which use articulated limbs, such as leg mechanisms, to provide locomotion. They are more versatile than wheeled robots and can traverse many different terrains, though these advantages require increased ...

: human-like legs (i.e. an android) or animal-like

leg A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element c ...

s. **

Wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

ed robot. ** Tracks.Linear track (PDF)
/ref>

Mobile robot navigation

There are many types of

mobile robot navigation Robot localization denotes the robot's ability to establish its own position and orientation within the frame of reference. Path planning is effectively an extension of localisation, in that it requires the determination of the robot's current po ...

Manual remote or tele-op

A manually teleoperated robot is totally under control of a driver with a joystick or other control device. The device may be plugged directly into the robot, may be a wireless joystick, or may be an accessory to a wireless computer or other controller. A tele-op'd robot is typically used to keep the operator out of harm's way. Examples of manual remote robots include Robotics Design's ANATROLLER ARI-100 and ARI-50, Foster-Miller's Talon, iRobot's PackBot, and KumoTek's MK-705 Roosterbot.

Guarded tele-op

A guarded tele-op robot has the ability to sense and avoid obstacles but will otherwise navigate as driven, like a robot under manual tele-op. Few if any mobile robots offer only guarded tele-op. ''(See Sliding Autonomy below.)''

Line-following Car

Some of the earliest Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) were line following mobile robots. They might follow a visual line painted or embedded in the floor or ceiling or an electrical wire in the floor. Most of these robots operated a simple "keep the line in the center sensor" algorithm. They could not circumnavigate obstacles; they just stopped and waited when something blocked their path. Many examples of such vehicles are still sold, by Transbotics, FMC, Egemin, HK Systems and many other companies. These types of robots are still widely popular in well known Robotic societies as a first step towards learning nooks and corners of robotics.

Autonomously randomized robot

Autonomous robots with random motion basically bounce off walls, whether those walls are sensed.

Autonomously guided robot

An autonomously guided robot knows at least some information about where it is and how to reach various goals and or waypoints along the way. " Localization" or knowledge of its current location, is calculated by one or more means, using sensors such motor encoders, vision,

Stereopsis Stereopsis () is the component of depth perception retrieved through binocular vision. Stereopsis is not the only contributor to depth perception, but it is a major one. Binocular vision happens because each eye receives a different image becaus ...

, lasers and global positioning systems.

Positioning system A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. One of the most well-known and commonly used positioning systems is the Global Positioning System (GPS). Positioning system technologies exist ranging from worl ...

s often use triangulation, relative position and/or Monte-Carlo/Markov localization to determine the location and orientation of the platform, from which it can plan a path to its next waypoint or goal. It can gather sensor readings that are time- and location-stamped. Such robots are often part of the wireless enterprise network, interfaced with other sensing and control systems in the building. For instance, the

PatrolBot PatrolBot is a programmable autonomous general purpose service robot rover built by MobileRobots Inc. PatrolBots are manufactured in various configurations and serve as bases for companies developing delivery robots, security robots, environmenta ...

security robot responds to alarms, operates elevators and notifies the command center when an incident arises. Other autonomously guided robots include the SpeciMinder and the TUG delivery robots for the hospital.

Sliding autonomy

More capable robots combine multiple levels of navigation under a system called sliding autonomy. Most autonomously guided robots, such as the HelpMate hospital robot, also offer a manual mode which allows the robot to be controlled by a person. The Motivity autonomous robot operating system, which is used in the ADAM, PatrolBot, SpeciMinder, MapperBot and a number of other robots, offers full sliding autonomy, from manual to guarded to autonomous modes.

History

References

External links

Line Follower Robot Tutorial with Circuit Diagram

A tutorial about line tracking sensors and algorithms

BioRobotics Laboratory, Research in Mobile Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction

Department of Production at Aalborg University in Denmark, Research in Mobile Robotics and Manipulation

The website for enthusiast of mobile robotics

Mobile Robot MURVV
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