Human Identification and Localization by Robots in Collaborative Environments

Environments in which mobile robots and humans must coexist tend to be quite dangerous to the humans. Many employers have resorted to separating the two groups since the robots move quickly and do not maneuver around humans easily resulting in human injuries. In this paper we provide a roadmap towards being able to integrate the two worker groups (human and robots) to increase both efficiency and safety. Improved human to robot communication and collaboration has implications in multiple applications. For example: (1) Robots that manage all aspects of dispensing items (e.g., drugs in pharmacies or supplies and tools in a remote workplace), reducing human errors. (2) Dangerous location capable robots that triage injured subjects using remote sensing of vital signs. (3) 'Smart' crash carts that move themselves to a required location in a hospital or in the field, help dispense drugs and tools, save time and money, and prevent accidents.