A surveillance robot is adapted with a light-weight body formed with light-weight foam, wheel motors arranged within the light-weight foam and connected to wheels extending out from the body and drivable by the wheel motors, a sensor system at least partially arranged within the light-weight foam for picking up any of image, audio and environmental data, an electronic controller arranged within the light-weight foam, connected to the sensor system and wheel motors, and including a memory and a set of computer instructions that provide for surveillance robot operation, and a transceiver section connected to the electronic controller and including an antenna for transmitting and receiving commands, the image data, the audio data and/or the environmental data to or from the electronic controller. The light-weight foam substantially surrounds, supports and protects the wheel motors, sensor system, electronic controller and transceiver from mechanical shock as the robot traverses obstacles.

An adaptive region division method and system are provided. The adaptive region division method includes: building an environmental map based on laser radar data and odometer data, to determine information about an environment in which a target device is located (S11); performing feature extraction according to the laser radar data, to determine feature data, where the feature data includes line feature data and point feature data (S12); generating a virtual door according to the feature data and the information about the environment in which the target device is located (S13); and dividing a to-be-divided region where the target device is located according to the virtual door (S14). Therefore, a virtual door is generated according to laser data of a current environment to achieve the purpose of adaptive region division, so that the target device can more efficiently and quickly cover the whole space.

A refuse vehicle includes a chassis supporting a plurality of wheels and a vehicle body. The vehicle body defines a receptacle for storing refuse. A lifting system is movable between a first position and a second position vertically offset from the first position. A processing unit is in communication with a sensor. An imaging device is in communication with the processing unit and is positioned on the refuse vehicle to have a field of view extending outwardly away from the refuse vehicle. The processing unit controls the imaging device to capture an image upon receiving an indication, from the sensor, that an indicator is present within the field of view. In some embodiments, the indicator is the presence of a positive object, like a waste container. In other embodiments, the indicator is the omission of an object (e.g., no container is detected) within the field of view.

A closed-loop detecting method using an inverted index-based key frame selection strategy, storage media and apparatus are provided. The method includes following steps: step I: acquiring image information at a current position, processing the image information to extract corresponding image features therefrom and solve a camera pose; step II: capturing image features successively during movement of a robot, as consecutive image frames, performing, on the consecutive image frames, an indexing, in which the inverted index-based key frame selection strategy is introduced into a key frame selection strategy to supplement key frames which are prone to be missed in a conventional forward indexing during a curvilinear movement of the robot; and step III: performing closed-loop detection and correction of accumulative errors based on image features carried by key frames.

An indoor navigation method is provided, including: receiving an instruction for navigation, and collecting an environment image; extracting an instruction room feature and an instruction object feature carried in the instruction, and determining a visual room feature, a visual object feature, and a view angle feature based on the environment image; fusing the instruction object feature and the visual object feature with a first knowledge graph representing an indoor object association relationship to obtain an object feature, and determining a room feature based on the visual room feature and the instruction room feature; and determining a navigation decision based on the view angle feature, the room feature, and the object feature.

Unmanned vehicles may be used to survey a property in response to or in anticipation of damage to the property. For example, an unmanned vehicle may use one or more sensors to determine damage to the property. Unmanned vehicles can be terrestrial, aerial, nautical, or multi-mode.

A device and a method for performing control to change a flexible virtual bumper for maintaining a space between a mobile object and an obstacle to be equal to or larger than a predetermined distance are enabled. A data processing unit that executes control to change the flexible virtual bumper for maintaining the space between the mobile object and the obstacle to be equal to or larger than the predetermined distance, and a drive unit that drives the mobile object in such a way that no obstacle enters the flexible virtual bumper are included. The data processing unit executes control to change the flexible virtual bumper at least either in size or shape. For each one of a plurality of travel route candidates for the mobile object, the data processing unit executes a simulation of changing the bumper size in such a way that no obstacle enters the flexible virtual bumper, and selects a safe travel route.

Provided is a self-propelled inspection device capable of improving efficiency of system introduction cost, setting, and update work necessary for self-propelling in a self-propelled inspection device expected to be operated outdoors for a long period of time. Therefore, there is provided the self-propelled inspection device that autonomously inspects an inspection object while autonomously traveling an inspection route, the self-propelled inspection device including: a self-position estimation unit that estimates a self-position; a map information database that manages map information for autonomous traveling; a traveling unit including a drive mechanism and a steering mechanism; a sensor that senses the inspection object; a map information update unit that updates the map information based on information sensed by the sensor; and a traveling unit control unit that controls the traveling unit based on the updated map information.

A method for collecting field operation situation and facility information, as a method for collecting field operation situation and facility information by a processor of a robot, includes acquiring a movement command for controlling movement of the robot, generating a real-time point map for a current reference area including a predetermined peripheral area of a current location of the robot, controlling the movement of the robot based on the generated real-time point map and the movement command, acquiring sensing information on a peripheral area according to the movement of the robot, detecting an abnormal object in the peripheral area and generating abnormal object information on the detected abnormal object, and transmitting the sensing information and the abnormal object information to at least one of a remote administrator terminal located remotely from the field, a field worker terminal located at the field, and a display device included in the robot to be displayed.

To implement robotic inspection of an in-service tank through the lower wall, a launch system is operatively coupled to the in-service tank carrying a multiphase fluid separated into a first fluid phase settled at the bottom of the in-service tank and a second fluid phase floating above the first fluid phase. The launch system includes multiple valves and is coupled to the bottom of the in-service tank. By operating the launch system, a robotic tank inspection device is introduced into the first fluid phase in the in-service tank while bypassing the second fluid phase. By operating the robotic tank inspection device, the bottom of the in-service tank is inspected for corrosion.