Analysis and prevention of selected risks of remotely and autonomously controlled mobile robot TeleRescuer

The article deals with the analysis of selected hazardous states caused by the failure of some of the critical subsystems of a mobile robot and describes mechanisms ensuring well-defined behavior in case of such a failure. The failures include communication problems (low quality of wireless communication or complete interruption), software problems (freezing or crashing of a software subsystem) and hardware problems (errors in drive control units etc.). The described solution was applied namely on the mobile robot TeleRescuer designed for operations in coal mines affected by catastrophes. The robot can work in teleoperated mode and also in autonomous mode, so the safety systems must ensure proper reaction to failures in both modes.