Development of an Autonomous Mobile Towing Vehicle for Logistic Tasks

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2020

Authors

Claúdia Rocha (Author) Other; Ivo Sousa (Author) Other; Francisco Ferreira (Author) Other; Héber Sobreira (Author) Other; José Lima (Author) Other; Germano Veiga (Author) FEUP; António Paulo Moreira (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: FOURTH IBERIAN ROBOTICS CONFERENCE: ADVANCES IN ROBOTICS, ROBOT 2019, VOL 1

Pages: 669-681

4th Iberian Robotics Conference (Robot) - Advances in Robotics

Porto, PORTUGAL, NOV 20-22, 2019

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 2 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-P93

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-35990-4_54

Abstract (EN): Frequently carrying high loads and performing repetitive tasks compromises the ergonomics of individuals, a recurrent scenario in hospital environments. In this paper, we design a logistic planner of a fleet of autonomous mobile robots for the automation of transporting trolleys around the hospital, which is independent of the space configuration, and robust to loss of network and deadlocks. Our robotic solution has an innovative gripping system capable of grasping and pulling non-modified standard trolleys just by coupling a plate. Robots are able to navigate autonomously, to avoid obstacles assuring the safety of operators, to identify and dock a trolley, to access charging stations and elevators, and to communicate with the latter. An interface was built allowing users to command the robots through a web server. It is shown how the proposed methodology behaves in experiments conducted at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and Braga's Hospital.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 13