-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Most traditional home robots have always had problems with stairs, doorsills and other obstacles that humans cross with ease in cluttered indoor environments. This paper presents the development and characterization of a surveillance robot with hopping capabilities for home security. The proposed robot, which is 9 cm in height and 250 g in weight, can leap over obstacles more than 4 times its own size. It depends on the elastic elements in a six-bar linkage leg system to enable hopping locomotion. It can also roll freely on flat floors and change its directions by the two-wheeled differential drive system. It adopts the ZigBee protocol for wireless communication and therefore can be added to a ZigBee-based home control network as a mobile video sensor node. Experimental results verify that the prototype robot is a powerful home security device that can patrol in cluttered home environments with ease.
IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics 12/2009; · 0.94 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a multi-interface sensor network gateway architecture for home automation and other distributed monitoring applications. The gateway architecture provides multiple interfaces for supporting various application scenarios in home environments, ranging from on-site configuration to mobile access. A gateway prototype following the proposed architecture has been implemented. A testbed of a simple home automation network which includes the gateway prototype has also been created for testing its user interaction capabilities. Results of the demonstration experiment show that the proposed gateway gives good support to managing the home network from different user terminals and allows the users to better interact with the ambient environment.
IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics 09/2008; · 0.94 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Adding a few mobile nodes into the conventional wireless sensor networks can greatly improve the sensing and control capabilities of the networks and can help researchers solve many challenges such as network deployment and repair. This paper presents an enhanced node architecture for adding controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. The structural model, the power model and the networking model of the proposed mobile node have been built respectively for better node control. And it provides a novel robotic platform for experimental research in hybrid sensor networks or other distributed measurement and control systems. A testbed has finally been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed mobile sensor node. The results of a coverage experiment show that the mobile node can provide additional support for network coverage and can ensure that the sensor network will work properly in undesirable environments.
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical.
