Development of autonomously mobile robot with control system connected by TCP/IP network

The purpose of this paper is to detail the development of a mobile robot and control support system. The robot has five infrared (IR) ray sensors and three ultrasonic sensors to enable it to follow a guide person with an IR ray transmitter. The robot follows the IR rays emitted by the transmitter and moves towards its destination. The control system has been developed by using network technology (client/server model) based on the TCP/IP protocol; the CPU of the robot system has a low-enough speed for this. The advanced control strategy for the mobile robot is carried out with a high-speed host server computer connected through the TCP/IP network. In this paper, the autonomous mobile robot system and the control support system aided by the TCP/IP network are described.