An RFID based autonomous indoor tour guide robot

This paper describes a radio frequency identification (RFID) and sonar-guided tour guide robot, CATE (Central's Automated Tour Experience). The portable terminal unit is an embedded system equipped with an RFID reader for localization, and sonar and IR sensors for obstacle detection and avoidance. CATE can guide the visitor through a predefined tour of the building, or create a new route on-the-fly. While in predefined tour mode, CATE completes the tour by avoiding obstacles using sonar and infrared sensor input. It will also provide audio and video information through an onboard computer, and can collect feedback from the user through a touch screen display. CATE has been successfully implemented and is under final stages of testing.

[1]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  MINERVA: a second-generation museum tour-guide robot , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[2]  Woojin Chung,et al.  The autonomous tour-guide robot Jinny , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[3]  Catherine Chiu.  The Bryn Mawr Tour Guide Robot , 2004 .

[4]  Devika Subramanian,et al.  Robust localization algorithms for an autonomous campus tour guide , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[5]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  Experiences with an Interactive Museum Tour-Guide Robot , 1999, Artif. Intell..