A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of locomotion.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 the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

and

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

. 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 robot welding, welding, painting, assembly, Circu ...

are usually more-or-less stationary, consisting of a jointed arm (multi-linked manipulator) and gripper assembly (or end effector), 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. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

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, tactile and proximity sensing, 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 (UGVs). They are most commonly wheeled or tracked, but also include legged robots with two or more legs (

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

, 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 vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s (UAVs) ** Underwater robots are usually called

autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification tha ...

s (AUVs) **Polar robots, designed to navigate icy, crevasse filled environments * The device they use to move, mainly: ** Legged robot: 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 cap ...

s. **

Wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

ed robot. ** Tracks.

Mobile robot navigation

There are many types of mobile robot navigation:

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 (AGR)

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 Binocular vision is seeing with two eyes, which increases the size of the Visual field, visual field. If the visual fields of the two eyes overlap, binocular #Depth, depth can be seen. This allows objects to be recognized more quickly, camouflage ...

, lasers and global positioning systems.

Positioning system A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. Positioning system technologies exist ranging from interplanetary coverage with meter accuracy to workspace and laboratory coverage with sub-millimeter accuracy. ...

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 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. Autonomously Mobile Robot (AMR)

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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