Development of a Mobile Robot for Transport Application in Hospital

Abstract

We have been developing the Muratec Keio Robot (MKR), an autonomous omnidirectional mobile robot system for transport applications in the hospital domain. This robot has a chamber to transfer luggage, specimens, and other materials safely. The robot has sensor devices such as a stereocamera, laser range finder and ultrasonic sensors to recognize surrounding environment and user interfaces such as a touch panel display and a display scrolling messages for interaction with human beings. Experiments are carried out at hospitals to verify the performance of elemental MKR-003 technology. Experimental results confirmed that the robot canmove without colliding with static or moving obstacles in a hospital. This paper presents the omnidirectional mobile transfer mechanisms, bumper switch, elevator passenger system and transport information systems.