The main objective of the Crowdbot project is safe navigation of mobile robots in a dense human crowd environment. Both terms “safe” and “navigation” carry equal weight in achieving milestones and the overall success of the project. Sensors play a critical role for both safe operation and intelligent navigation of Crowdbot robots.
This report provides extensive technical and operational details of sensors used in two Crowdbot robots: Pepper the humanoid robot and the smart wheelchair prototype. Note, however, that our proposed sensor technologies can be readily adapted and replicated among other robots as well. As part of our technology transfer objective, a variety of descriptors (figures, tables and text summary) are used in this report to convey sensor information such that other robotic platforms external to the Crowdbot project can realize safe and intelligent navigation outcomes using the same or similar type of sensor modules outlined here.