Konrad and Suse, two robots guiding visitors in a university building

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the hard- and software architecture of a mobile visitor information system for the Konrad Zuse building of the School of Computer Science and Automation at the Ilmenau University of Technology. Two mobile robots serve as mobile information terminals with capabilities for generating way descriptions and guiding the visitor to the points of interest (labs, meeting rooms, offices, employees) in the building. The paper focuses on the constraints resulting from the challenging environment in this multi-floor building, as well as on the integration aspects of various skills for navigation and human-robot interaction. Besides first experience with the system, the further development is outlined as well. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.