Development of a Low Cost and Path-free Autonomous Patrol System Based on Stereo Vision System and Checking Flags

Nowadays, security guard patrol services are becoming roboticized. However, high construction prices and complex systems make patrol robots difficult to be popularized. In this research, a simplified autonomous patrolling robot is proposed, which is fabricated by upgrading a wheeling household robot with stereo vision system (SVS), radio frequency identification (RFID) module, and laptop. The robot has four functions: independent patrolling without path planning, checking, intruder detection, and wireless backup. At first, depth information of the environment is analyzed through SVS to find a passable path for independent patrolling. Moreover, the checkpoints made with RFID tag and color pattern are placed in appropriate positions within a guard area. While a color pattern is detected by the SVS, the patrolling robot is guided to approach the pattern and check its RFID tag. For more, the human identification function of SVS is used to detect an intruder. While a skeleton information of the human is analyzed by SVS, the intruder detection function is triggered, then the robot follows the intruder and record the images of the intruder. The recorded images are transmitted to a server through Wi-Fi to realize the remote backup, and users can query the recorded images from the network. Finally, an experiment is made to test the functions of the autonomous patrolling robot successfully.