WatchBot: A building maintenance and surveillance system based on autonomous robots

There is a growing interest in the use of intelligent technologies in new buildings. An intelligent system should be designed in a manner that allows minimum human intervention during daily operation. However, large buildings need substantial manpower for maintenance, management as well as surveillance to ensure a quality environment for the occupants. This paper describes a multi-robot system for building maintenance and surveillance applications over the Internet. Each robot can handle autonomously some daily maintenance and surveillance routine tasks, although remote control of the robots via the Internet or intranet is also possible. Apart from the user-started and scheduled tasks, the robots can also execute tasks to handle alarms triggered by the building automation system (BAS). Robots are connected to the central management office via a local area network. This paper shows the advantages of using mobile robots for building maintenance and surveillance tasks by improving efficiency and reducing manpower. The system was developed with the Robotics Integrated Development Environment (RIDE) and was tested intensively in different environments.