Chapter 2.5 - A Household Service Robot with a Cellphone Interface

Abstract

In this chapter, an efficient and low-cost cellphone-commandable mobile manipulation system is described. Aiming at home use and elderly caring, this system can be easily commanded through a common cellphone network to efficiently grasp objects in a household environment, utilizing several low-cost off-the-shelf devices. Unlike the visual servo technology using a high quality vision system with the associated high cost, the household-service robot would not be able to afford such a high quality vision servo system, and thus it is essential to use some low-cost devices. However, it is extremely challenging to create such a vision system with precise localization, as well as motion control. To tackle this challenge, we developed a real-time vision system with which a reliable grasping algorithm combining machine vision, robotic kinematics and motor control technology is presented. After the target is captured by the arm camera, the arm camera keeps tracking the target while the arm keeps stretching until the end effector reaches the target. However, if the target is not captured by the arm camera, the arm will make a move to help the arm camera capture the target under the guidance of the head camera. This algorithm is implemented on two robot systems: one with a fixed base and another with a mobile base. The results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the algorithm and system we developed, and our study shows the significance of developing a service robot in a modern household environment.