20-12-2012, 02:08 PM
PDA-Based Mobile Robot System with Remote Monitoring for Home Environment
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Abstract
This paper proposes a home automation system using a PDA(Personal Digital Assistants)-based intelligent robot system architecture which consists of three layers; a user layer, a manager layer, and an action layer. In the user layer, users manage and control the robot, and get visual information via the remote monitoring system. In the case of showing maps with the status of the robot, synchronization is very important. In the manager layer, there are three parts; a server part, a home appliances part, and a storage part. The server part manages all the status information of the house, the home appliances part controls all appliances, and the storage system stores all the status information of the house.
INTRODUCTION
Since the first home automation system was introduced during the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair, numerous studies about home automation and home networking have been developed in many fields [1]. Village at Tinker Creek, Roanoke, Virginia provides a high level of control, although it is not suitable for people with disabilities [2]. Residents can control lighting, air conditioning and heating, as well as the security system, from anywhere with an internet connection. IT Condominiums in Stockholm address home management, family management, and condominium administration communication [3]. They provide a platform for food management, including shopping and meal preparation as well as basic control of the home. Van Berlo’s smart homes in the Netherland address security, care, and comfort, including access control using a camera, etc [4].
HAUPIRS ARCHITECTURE
We have designed the HAuPIRS Architecture. It consists of two parts; the residential gateway for home networking and the PDA-based mobile robot system.
Home Network using the Residential Gateway
Home networking is an essential condition for a home automation system [1]. It makes it possible to control and manage the home from anywhere. Fig. 2 shows the residential gateway for a home network. The residential gateway is connected with the internet and it is possible to connect with multi-devices, such as PCs, mobile phones, and PDAs, etc. Most home appliances and systems are connected in the residential gateway with wired or wireless networks. We can control and manage home appliances using this system, even from the outside.
PBMORO SYSTEM
We have developed a system which is based on the HAuPIRS architecture. We call this system the PBMoRo system (PDA-based Mobile Robot System). Fig. 6 shows the PBMoRo system architecture. It consists of two parts; the mobile robot system, and the server system.
Robot System
Fig. 7 shows the PDA-based mobile robot system. It has a suitable size (300 x 400 x 300 mm (w x d x h)) and weight (8 kg) for a home environment. The body is made of aluminum and acryl. The actuator and the pan-tilt system have two motors each. It has a CF camera, which has 1.3 mega-pixels and processes 30 frames/sec, five ultrasonic sensors, a CO2 sensor, and a VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) sensor. It uses two 15 V Li-ion batteries.
Server System and Remote Monitoring System
The server system is important, since it plays the role of a bridge between the robot system and the remote monitoring system. Consequently, data transition is the core process of the server system, and Fig. 11 shows the diagram of the data flow in the server system, which is based on the HAuPIRS architecture. The PBMoRo system has two kinds of remote monitoring system; the PDA-based system (left-hand figure of Fig. 12), and the PC-based system (right-hand figure of Fig.
12 and Fig. 13). Users connect to the remote monitoring system via the login process for security (right-hand figure of Fig. 12). The PC-based remote monitoring system shows streaming images from the camera of the actual robot (right- hand side of Fig. 13). It also shows the 3D map, which is synchronized with the actual robot. For drawing 3D maps, we have developed the map editor (Fig. 14). The remote monitoring system shows streaming images from the camera of the robot, and it is possible to control the pan-tile system. If the goal position is given, the robot moves autonomously, and users can verify that the robot is moving correctly. It is also possible to check the status of the home using visual information.
CONCLUSIONS
As conventional home automation systems build automatic environments using networks, the cost of expanding the new functions is high. A conventional intelligent robot system is unsuitable for a home environment, because it is heavy and expensive. To solve these problems, we have designed the Home Automation system using the PDA-based Intelligent Robot System (HAuPIRS) architecture. The HAuPIRS architecture uses the PDA-based mobile robot system for the home automation system. It ensures that there is no additional cost even though the house is expanded, using a mobile robot which has cameras and various sensors.