An Indoor Navigation Service Robot System Based on Vibration Tactile Feedback

In order to help the visually impaired and those who need the help of guidance, an indoor navigation service robot system based on vibration tactile feedback is proposed in this paper. Being different from the physical interaction typically used in existing navigation systems, the interaction in the proposed system is achieved by a wearable vibro-tactile bracelet device. Moreover, a human-guidance algorithm is presented based on the basic leader–follower control model. In the guidance, the user is free to decide the linear velocity, and the angular velocity is appropriately adjusted by the vibro-tactile feedback. The feedback is given in the form of the vibrational signal of the bracelet. In the whole process, the distance and orientation deviations between the human and the robot can be controlled in a certain scope, thus the system can ensure that the robot guides the user to the destination accurately. The tactile perception experiments show that the tactile indication method of the bracelet is effective. The trajectory following experiments on the flat ground and the adaptability test on the undulating terrain are performed to verify the feasibility of the system. The user acceptance tests show that the system is user-friendly and less intrusive. Finally, the anti-interference ability of the system is analyzed via experiments to verify the robustness of the system.