Tele-Operated and
Autonomous Mobile Robots
OSORIO, Fernando; WOLF, Denis; SIMOES, Eduardo1
PESSIN, Gustavo; FERNANDES, Leandro1
HATA, Alberto; SHINZATO, Patrick; DIAS, Mauricio; COUTO, Leandro1
1
Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação - ICMC
Mobile Robotics Laboratory - LRM
Universidade de São Paulo – USP
São Carlos-SP, Brasil
The LRM Lab activities are focused in the development of research and applications using
intelligent mobile robots and vehicles. One of our main research focus is on service robots used
to execute tasks into indoor environments based on tele-operation and autonomous navigation
for environment monitoring and incident detection, notification and response. The main goal is
to protect the operator from dangerous situations (user safety) through the use of these mobile
devices, and also to improve the operator “sensorial” capacity in order to monitor the
environment (intelligent environment monitoring). The research in this application domain is
related to sensorial information processing, auto-localization algorithms, path planning,
robot control, collision avoidance, autonomous navigation of mobile robots
and multi-robotic system coordination and collaboration.
Laboratory:
LRM-ICMC-USP
Web:
INCT- SEC GT1: http://www.inct-sec.org/
LRM-ICMC: http://www.lrm.icmc.usp.br/
Funding:
USP
INCT-SEC
FAPESP, CNPq, CAPES,
Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia
Science Facilities
Tele-Operated and Autonomous Mobile Robots
LRM: Mobile Robotics Lab. – ICMC – USP São Carlos
Researchers: Prof. Dr. Fernando Osório, Prof. Dr. Denis Wolf, Prof. Dr. Eduardo Simões
Graduate Students: Gustavo Pessin, Leandro Fernandes (Ph.D. Students)
Alberto Hata, Patrick Shinzato, Mauricio A. Dias, Leandro Couto (M.Sc. Students)
General Description:
The LRM Lab (Laboratório de Robótic Móvel / Mobile Robotics Laboratory) is part of the ICMC-USP
(Univesity of São Paulo), located at São Carlos, Brazil. This research laboratory has facilities used to
develop hardware and software for mobile robotic systems, where the LRM activities are aligned and
focused mainly on both three main Task Groups (GT) of the INCT-SEC:
• GT1 – Indoor Tactical Mobile Robot (Service and Security Robots / Single or Multiple Robots)
“Desenvolvimento de robôs táticos para ambientes internos” – Coord. by Prof. F. Osório
• GT2 – Autonomous Grounded Vehicles (Assisted and Autonomous Vehicle Driving)
“Desenvolvimento de veículos terrestres e autônomos” – Coord. by Prof. D. Wolf
• GT3 – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Autonomous Airplanes, Aerial Missions)
“Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Aéreos ,ão Tripulados” – Coord. by Prof. Onofre Trindade Jr.
The LRM Lab activities include the development of research and applications using mobile robots. The
focus is on service robots used to execute tasks into indoor environments of tele-operation and
autonomous monitoring and incident detection-notification-response.
Tele-Operation: The mobile robots should be able to be tele-operated from a secure distance by a
human operator that could inspect the environment, and at the same time, the robot should avoid to be
harmed by incorrect user commands (self-protection), keep away from causing damages (avoid
collisions), and finally it should try to provide some feedback to the operator and try to identify
automatically incidents, sending back information (sensorial data, video and audio link) to user. Figure 1
presents the architecture adopted in our service robots. The main goal is to protect the operator from
dangerous situations by the use of these mobile devices, and also to improve the operator “sensorial”
capacity in order to monitor the environment (intelligent environment monitoring).
Figure 1 – Tele-Operation System Architecture
Science Facilities
Autonomous Operation: The robot should be operated in different levels of autonomy: remote
controlled by user (low autonomy – only avoid collisions and damages), destination indicated by user
(medium autonomy – autonomous navigation to a destination point), global task execution (high
autonomy – patrol the environment). The mobile robots can act individually, but can also act
coordinately, forming a robot squad that executes task following a collective strategy: optimize and
organize the environment monitoring (incident detection, notification and reaction), assuring a better
task execution.
Research Topics: The research in this application domain is related to sensorial information processing,
auto-localization algorithms, path planning, robot control, collision avoidance, autonomous navigation
of mobile robots and multi-robotic system coordination and collaboration. The figures bellows
demonstrate a few examples of the LRM Lab research and robotic facilities.
The Figure 2 illustrates the research about tele-operation topic under development at the LRM Lab.
Figure 2 - Tele-Operation of a robotic mobile platform (Controlled from a distant site)
The Figure 3 illustrates the research about robot squad strategies and coordination under development at
the LRM Lab.
Figure 3 – Multi-Robotic System forming a coordinated autonomous mobile robot fire-fighting squad
Science Facilities
The Figure 4 illustrates the mobile robot platforms available at the LRM Lab.
Pioneer 3AT, 3DX, Erratic EraMobi and Surveyor SRV-1 Blackfin
Figure 4 – Indoor Mobile Robots from LRM Lab.
Additional References:
1) WOLF, Denis F. ; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. ; Simões, Eduardo ; Trindade Jr., Onofre . Robótica Inteligente: Da Simulação às
Aplicações no Mundo Real. In: André Ponce de Leon F. de Carvalho; Tomasz Kowaltowski. (Org.). JAI: Jornada de
Atualização em Informática da SBC. Rio de Janeiro: SBC - Editora da PUC Rio, 2009, v. 1, p. 279-330.
2) OSÓRIO, Fernando S. ; WOLF, Denis F. ; Simões, Eduardo ; CASTELO BRANCO, Kalinka R.L.J. ; PESSIN, Gustavo .
Simulação Virtual de Carros em Jogos e Aplicações de I.A.. In: Esteban Clua, Delmar Galasi. (Org.). Proceedings of the
SBGames 2009 - Computing Track - Tutorials. 1 ed. Rio de Janeiro: SBC - PUC/RJ, 2009, v. 1, p. 1-20.
3) PESSIN, Gustavo ; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. . Algoritmos Genéticos Aplicados à Formação e Atuação de Grupos Robóticos.
In: SBC - ENIA: Encontro Nacional de Inteligência Artificial, 2009, Bento Gonçalves, RS. Anais do ENIA - VII Encontro
Nacional de Inteligência Artificial. Porto Alegre : SBC, 2009. v. 1. p. 1019-1028.
4) PESSIN, Gustavo ; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. ; WOLF, Denis F. ; DIAS, Maurício Acconcia . Genetic Algorithm Applied to
Robotic Squad Coordination. In: CERMA 2009 - Electronics, Robotics and Automotive Mechanics Conference, 2009,
Cuernavaca, Mexico. Proceedings of the CERMA Conference 2009. Los Alamitos, CA : IEEE Press / IEEE Computer
Society, 2009. v. 1. p. 1-6.
Science Facilities
5) PESSIN, Gustavo ; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. . Avaliação de um Modelo Tolerante a Falhas para Atuação Tática de Grupos
Robóticos Utilizando Algoritmos Genéticos. In: CLEI 2009 - Conferência Latino Americana de Informática, 2009, Pelotas,
RS. Proceedingo of CLEI 2009: SBC, 2009. v. 1. p. 1-10.
6) SAITO, P. T. M. ; SABATINE, R. J. ; BRANCO, K. R. L. J. C. ; Wolf, D. F. An Analysis of Parallel Approaches for a
Mobile Robotic Self-localization Algorithm. International Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking
Vol. 2, No. 4, December, 2009. p. 49-64.
7) SAITO, P. T. M. ; SABATINE, R. J. ; BRANCO, K. R. L. J. C. ; Wolf, D. F. . Parallel Implementation of Mobile Robotic
Self-localization. In: International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology (ICHIT 2009), 2009,
Daejeon. International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology, 2009. p. 390-396.
8) BONETTI, Leonardo Almeida; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. e CASTELO BRANCO, Kalinka R.L.J. Virtual-Robot: Simulador
físico para tele-operação e navegação autônoma de robôs móveis. In: XVII SIICUSP – Salão Internacional de Iniciação
Científica da USP (2009). Resumo. USP – São Paulo.
9) PESSIN, G. ; OSORIO, F. S. ; HATA, A. Y. ; WOLF, D. F. . Intelligent Control and Evolutionary Strategies Applied to
Multirobotic Systems. In: IEEE-ICIT 2010 International Conference on Industrial Technology, 2010, Viña del Mar,
Valparaíso. Proceedings of IEEE-ICIT 2010 International Conference on Industrial Technology. Los Alamitos, California :
IEEE Computer Society, 2010. p. 1-6.
10) PESSIN, Gustavo ; OSÓRIO, Fernando S. Otimização por Enxame de Partículas Aplicado à Formação e Atuação de
Grupos Robóticos. Revistas Scientia - Unisinos – São Leopoldo - ISSN 0104-1770. Vol.20, no. 2, p. 1-20. Julho-Dezembro
2009. (To appear).
11) HATA, A. Y. ; Wolf, D. F. ; PESSIN, G. ; OSORIO, F. S. Terrain Mapping and Classification in Outdoor Environments
Using Neural Networks. International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology. ISSN: 2005-4246. Vol. 2,
No. 4, p. 51-61, 2009.