<title>Autonomous Observer: a tool for remote experimentation in robotics</title>

Abstract

This paper describes a robotics technology--the Autonomous Observer (AO)--developed to facilitate experimentation over the Internet. The AO is a mobile robot equipped with visual sensors. It applies visual tracking and motion planning techniques to track a designated moving object (the target) in an environment cluttered by obstacles and repeatedly measure the target's pose. This pose is sent over the Internet to remote users who can observe 3D real-time graphic renderings of the target's motion in its environment under individually selected viewpoints. The AO was used to set up an experiment in which a can-collecting robot (playing the role of the target) equipped with a range sensor and a simple arm automatically detects coke cans and collects them in a bag.