Web interfaces for mobile robots in public places

The emergence of the World Wide Web provides a unique opportunity to connect robots to the Internet, enabling people all over the World to control them and monitor their operation. This paper describes a series of Web interfaces, designed to remotely operate mobile robots in public places through the Web. The design of these interfaces specifically addresses issues such as low bandwidth of Internet connections, control brokering, and shared control as well as interaction with people in the robot’s environment, which arise naturally in applications with Web-based robot control. The interfaces have been tested extensively using two deployed service robots, which were installed as interactive tour-guides in two museums. The Web interfaces proved highly effective to provide a “tele-presence” to people all over the world. The paper also discusses trade-offs and limitations of Web-based robots that interact with people in populated, public places.