Methods and Tools for an Efficient Design of Service Robot Applications

In the past considerable effort has been invested in developing systems which support autonomous task execution or navigation of robots in semi- and unstructured environments. Technological advances resulted in a new application area for robots: the service sector. This paper presents several examples of service robots with different degrees of automation in their task execution. Methods of planning and laying out for service robots are addressed. The role of the operator/user interaction with the system is demonstrated with five examples of prototype service robots. In all examples referencing the robot to the object turned out to be of crucial importance for accurate task execution. This leads to the use of a new optical measurement system: The Reseau Scanning Camera (RSC).