All security personnel take breaks during rounds. And this is one of the characteristics that RobVigil has in common with a real security guard. The robot developed at INESC TEC also knows how to choose the most appropriate time to interrupt rounds and to recharge batteries. However, the robot is not yet implementing this decision-making capacity because INESC TEC is still finalising the mechanism that carries electromagnetic induction batteries.

If all goes according to plan, in June the robot, which makes video calls and detects dangerous situations, will innovate by using the next-generation batteries during testing procedures that will decide whether it is time to move on to the industrialisation stage. "A surveillance robot can be the most suitable solution to replace humans in dangerous situations," predicts Antonio Paulo Moreira, project coordinator at INESC TEC.

The RobVigil started in 2010 by a consortium that brings together laboratories from INESC TEC and the companies Strong, Cleverhouse and SinePower. Now that two years have passed, the 1.30 metre robot that researchers proudly say sports the colours of the Porto Football Club has now passed the first popularity test.

In Guimarães, during the National Robotics Festival, no child was afraid to go near the robot, to see how it moved, both independently and remotely controlled by its creators. Many of the younger fans even tried to shove their little fingers in the cameras and sensors. Even the older visitors were surprised by the robot’s ability to go around people and objects or to chat with people who can be anywhere in the world.

For the INESC TEC researchers, the robot’s popularity is a valuable indicator. Due to its videoconference features, the consortium had decided that the robot should be about 1.30 metres high. This scale helps locate the robot in areas where there are people, but that can also have unexpected effects: "We knew that the robot could not look scary", adds Miguel Pinto, a researcher at INESC TEC.

In addition to the requirements set by the consortium, the researchers working on RobVigil faced other complex challenges: "We had to follow the law in terms of speed limits and the ability to not collide with objects. These machines are subject to strict EU rules", explains Pedro Carvalho, also a researcher at INESC TEC.

In order to shape the actions of the robot to different restrictions and missions, the INESC TEC researchers created a platform that allows an operator (or the person in charge of security in a certain building) to control the machine at any time. It is also possible to define specific rounds in certain locations taking into account not only the sites to be surveyed, but also the specifics of these locations. "You can set various behaviours and change rounds, as well as alarms that may or may not go off, circulation speeds, or even define a particular place where some sensors should have priority over others", outlines Nelson Rodrigues, a researcher at INESC TEC who also participated in the development of RobVigil.

Human intervention is supported through wireless communication. Using Wi-Fi and UMTS networks, the robot sends the images captured by three cameras to a checkpoint, its location, and also the different warnings for events that exceed the parameters set for each mission.

Using wireless communication, the human operator can command the robot to use one of its cameras to focus on and follow a particular person if that person enters a restricted access area.

Alternatively, if the sensors detect smoke and the thermal camera shows that there is a fire, the same operator can set a fire alarm, call the fire department, and eventually send the robot to a location away from the flames.

António Paulo Moreira points out that the RobVigil was created in order to execute tasks with different requirements, which means that the machine can adapt to different spaces, including industrial areas, warehouses, or even shopping centres where it should see thousands of people every day.

With the research almost reaching a conclusion, the INESC TEC researcher discloses future work directions: "We also want to develop technologies that allow a set of robots to cooperate and implement the most suitable strategy for each event."

Exame Informática, 1 June 2012