A mobile robot platform for assistance and entertainment

Based on the successful hardware and software architecture of Care‐O‐bot ™ , a new generation of mobile robots has recently been designed at Fraunhofer Institute of Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA). The robots have been created to communicate with and to entertain visitors in a museum. Their tasks include welcoming visitors, leading a guided tour through the museum or playing with a ball. In this article the hardware platform of the robots and their features such as navigation and communication skills, their safety concept and handling are outlined. Further, the underlying control software of the robots is described. Finally, the application of the robots at the Museum für Kommunikation in Berlin is presented. The robots have been running in this museum daily since 25 March 2000 without noteworthy problems.