Implementation of a Person Following Robot in ROS-gazebo platform

Abstract

This research work involves the implementation of a person follower robot in ROS_Gazebo platform As part of this research work, we designed a mobile robot (for simulation)that can follow human beings. It assists people carrying heavyweights to their desired locations by following them. The entire simulation work is carried out with the help of ROS2 (Robot Operating System Version2). We used Gazebo and RVIZ as simulation tools to verify the outputs. MakeHuman and Blender software's assisted in creating an animated person and verify the rendering in the gazebo. The mobile robot created makes use of a Depth camera (Kinect) to detect a person and Lidars to calculate the distance between the robot and person. YOLOv3 algorithm has been used for image recognition. With this mobile robot, we simulated with multiple persons in gazebo software to make sure the robot is following only one particular person. The Kinect sensor uses object detection algorithms to identify and follow a particular person.