電動車椅子型ロボットＤＲＥＡＭ号の走行制御に関する研究

The author was requested by the committee of Reports of the Faculty of Engineering, Tottori university to summarize the major researches during the life in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. With many thanks, the author will describe the research activities on the Autonomous Mobile Robots DREAM as follows: In the recent aging society, the burden of the nurses has increased. To reduce the burden even a little, we are developing the wheelchair type autonomous mobile robot, called DREAM-3, which will be used in indoor environments of the hospitals and/or welfare facilities. The DREAM-3 aims at carrying the passenger from its present place to the destination safely and comfortably. Along this line of the safety traveling, we have installed an environmental map to digitalize the information in the corresponding traveling environmental. Using the environmental map, suitable traveling route is estimated and a safety autonomous traveling is realized. This was proved on the traveling in a general welfare facility near our campus. Besides, based on the traveling approach of DREAM-3, a semi-automatic wheelchair robot, called DREAM-4, with a learning function has been proposed. A driver operates DREAM-4 by a joystick. And when the wheelchair meets with obstacles and senses danger, it travels slowly and avoids obstacles automatically. And DREAM-4 is to learn according to the operational feature of the driver, so that to make the steering easy.