Exploiting RFID Capabilities Onboard a Service Robot Platform

The potential of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology is analyzed in the context of service robots. Various concepts that differ by operation frequency (LF, HF, UHF) and, thus, by range are analyzed. Typically, the service robot application which is to be supported by RFID, preselects the frequency band by range requirements. Within the DESIRE project, RFID was investigated for platform localization in large operation areas as well as for object identification at small distances. To enable this investigation, an electronic system was designed, built and integrated into the DESIRE platform that supports multiple antenna control. Detection zones of objects, equipped with UHF-RFID tags, were estimated under lab conditions and for onboard scenarios. In particular, strengths and weaknesses of UHF-RFID object identification at far distances and in the presence of interfering signals are discussed. This lead to one scenario in which the robot grasps an object, moves and rotates it in reading distance to the antenna mounted at the robot torso. The service robot can thus perceive object information that complements information from other sensor modalities like vision.