Haptic Control for the Interactive Behavior Operated Shopping Trolley InBOT

An important challenge in service robotics is to design user interfaces that can be used intuitively to enable the potential users to benefit from the robot’s functionalities. These interfaces have to be easy to understand on the one hand but have to be able to access the various features that are provided by robotics. This document presents the haptic-based control of an Interactive Behavior Operated shopping Trolley (InBOT). The holonomic robot InBOT is an approach to transfer state of the art robotics technology into all-day environments to make their benefits available for the populace. The haptic-based mode of control enables the user to steer InBOT just like an ordinary shopping cart while being released from the burden to push the cart with muscle power. Additionally haptic commands are introduced which the user can give the robot using the haptic handle. These commands are classified by a vector support machine and activate corresponding behaviors of the robot’s advanced behavior repertoire. Finally the user is supported continuously by features from the robot’s basic behavior repertoire like the avoidance of obstacles.