Development of Safe Autonomous Mobile Service Robots using an Active Integrated Approach

Mobile service robots are expected to provide services in various domains of life. Herein, the main challenge for the robot is the execution of complex tasks within an unstructured dynamic environment. In order to achieve the necessary highly flexible behavior, mobile service robots must have a high degree of autonomy. However, although much effort is spent on the investigation and realization of autonomy since decades, it is mostly neglected, that autonomous robots are also causing new types of safety problems. It seems impossible to solve these problems with traditional passive safety approaches. Therefore, new methods are introduced in order to check safety during operation time.