MOPS, a system for mail distribution in office type buildings

This paper describes the new mobile post system (MOPS) developed at the Institute of Robotics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. This mobile service robot operates in a building containing several research institutes and various other institutions. The MOPS has the task of distributing the incoming mail (letters and small parcels collected in boxes) from a central post station to the various institutes and to collect the outgoing mail from the said institutes on its return journey back to the central post station. In this paper we describe the task in detail as well as our solutions to such diverse problems as: collision free and robust navigation, position update, position control, communication with building infrastructure, range sensing and mobile manipulation. The MOPS is currently undergoing extensive field testing.