Rove-Station

Project Description and Background:

 

The intent of this project is to design a cart or small workstation that has an autonomous guiding system on its wheels that will follow a human around as the human works around it. The auto-cart will track motion of the user with either a tracker on the human or some type of device to reference where they are and where it needs to be. Some of the tasks the workstation will autonomously perform will be:

 

1. To maintain a minimum distance whether the human walks away from the cart or towards it, while simultaneously tracking in the opposite direction and area to prevent running into any other objects.

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2. Motion sensors will be used to detect motion or objects around the surrounding environment, while RF technology would be used to help the cart communicate with the device connected to the human.

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3. Optimized for home/office use, the Rove-Station can see a wide range of use in a variety of jobs with a simple design.

 

4. Manual mode can also be implemented if user desires to operate cart on their own.

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Previous approaches to the problem

 

CaddyTrek Mobile Autonomous Robotic Golf Cart Caddy (Black)[1]

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The CaddyTrek Mobile Autonomous Robotic Golf Cart Caddy (Black) is a robotic golf caddy that follows you, leaving you hands free to enjoy golf without the burden of carrying a bag. Less fatigue means better levels of concentration and physical control when driving to the tee or playing the short game.[1]

 

The device is seen to have both an autonomous moving system that will track the user with a device attached on themselves, and also a remote the user can manually guide the caddy as desired.

The CaddyTrek only is intended for playing golf and while operation of human/ user tracking is pretty similar, it is not specified if the following mechanism also accounts for object tracking around it to prevent collision. The Project proposed could be used in a variety of applications from home use to work or office situations, and could have more systems designed to make it safer and more aware of its surroundings.

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CANVAS Technology warehouse self-driving picking cart

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The CANVAS Cart is considered to be the world’s first self- driving industrial cart that uses specially designed 3D cameras to map the area around it and navigate in a highly dynamic environment.

Robotics and Automation News states that “Using computer vision, Canvas claims its machine is the only commercial self-driving vehicle capable of hands-off operations in highly changing and unstructured environments. By using cameras to map, localize and plan, it sees its environment in rich 3D – enabling intelligent and safe behavior indoors or out, and in GPS-denied environments”[2] In areas that have no ability to communicate via GPS or network connection, the cart creates its own 3D map around it, and makes decisions on movement in real time, while communicating with other CANVAS carts around it to provide and receive information in case the space in the area has changed around it.[3]

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The self-driving cart aims to bring solutions similar to the Rove-Station; to improve efficiency and speed of work that typically requires physical effort and could benefit from a more independent cart that will guide itself. CANVAS carts, along with similar other products of the same purpose, are so far only seen to be intended for distribution/manufacturing work environments where product only needs to be transported from one area to another.

Their advanced technology for evaluating the environment around them proves the technology is very established and well-developed, however the aim of the Rove-Station is to prove to be multi-functional in a variety of spaces for different professions, not just warehouse or in-building transport.

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The technology that is planned to be used is also simpler in designed and aims to be more cost efficient, as the Rove-Station will not need to communicate with other carts around it, only with the device it will be designed to track and follow.

Rove-Station will have RF technology to help communicate with the tracking device, while motion sensors attached around the perimeter of the cart will help detect any object within close proximity, and wait for command from the user for which action to take next.