Abstract
As the restaurant industry is facing labor shortage issues, the use of meal delivery robots instead of waiters/waitresses not only allows the customers to experience the impact of robot technology but also benefits the restaurant business financially by reducing labor costs. Most existing meal delivery robots employ magnetic navigation technologies, which require magnetic strip installation and changes to the restaurant decor. Once the moving path is changed, the magnetic strips need to be re-laid. This study proposes multisource information fusion, i.e., the fusion of ultra-wide band positioning technology with an odometer and a low-cost gyroscope accelerometer, to achieve the positioning of a non-rail meal delivery robot with navigation. By using a low-cost electronic compass and gyroscope accelerometer, the delivery robot can move along a fixed orbit in a flexible and cost-effective manner with steering control. Ultra-wide band (UWB) and track estimation algorithm are combined by extended Kalman filter (EKF), and the positioning error after fusion is about 15 cm, which is accepted by restaurants. In summary, the proposed approach has some potential for commercial applications.
Highlights
Food and beverage marketing statistics have shown that the value of the Chinese food industry reached 2T yuan in 2015
This paper presents a meal delivery robot with positioning and navigation control based on the fusion of information from multiple sources or technologies, namely ultra-wide band (UWB) positioning, an odometer, a low-cost gyroscope accelerometer, and an electronic compass
The growing popularity of robots in the service industry can be attributed to their low labor cost, high efficiency, and attractiveness to customers
Summary
Food and beverage marketing statistics have shown that the value of the Chinese food industry reached 2T yuan in 2015. When an out-of-orbit accident occurs, the operation has to be resumed by the staff, and the flexibility is low Another common method for robot positioning is based on SLAM, which allows independent navigation, obstacle avoidance, and path planning. Considering the environment in a restaurant, the use of only UWB technology results in low positioning accuracy, e.g., around 30–40 cm In this situation, using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a good choice. In addition to the fusion of UWB and IMU technologies, visual odometer correction can improve the positioning accuracy This paper presents a meal delivery robot with positioning and navigation control based on the fusion of information from multiple sources or technologies, namely UWB positioning, an odometer, a low-cost gyroscope accelerometer, and an electronic compass. The trajectory error of the food delivery robot can be less than 15 cm, whose precision is acceptable for the application field such as in a restaurant
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
