Demonstration of Robotic Wheelchair in Fukuoka Island-City

We have been performing studies on the intelligent space to support various operations of mobile robots. This space will provide several functions, such as recognizing position of robots and objects in the area, searching proper route for robot to proceed, and controlling robots and other equipments. In order to conduct a practical study, we have developed a wheelchair-type mobile robot which has minimum functions for autonomous operations in the intelligent space, and conducted field experiments in public roads in Fukuoka Island-City residential area, where has been authorized as a ‘Special Zones for Robot Development and Testing’. This paper will describe the experiments and results obtained.