Centralized Multi-agent Mobile Robots SLAM and Navigation for COVID-19 Field Hospitals

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the proof of concept prototype of fully autonomous centralized Multi-Robot System (MRS) consisting of a Hexapod walking robot and a six wheeled mobile robot. Recently, there has been an increasing demand for such systems as they can be involved in several tasks such as collaborative search and rescue, surveillance, monitoring, and disinfecting Field hospitals. To name a few, COVID-19 pandemic showed the weak points in the medical sector around the world, including those in the most advanced nations that had to go through hard decisions due to the lack of medical supplies and personal protective equipment. The developed system was rapidly adjusted due to COVID-19 pandemic to perform additional tasks like disinfection and remote body temperature detection. The developed system abide by ISO 13482 safety requirements for personal care robots, meaning it will be used and deployed in Field hospitals. We implemented the proposed approach in a game setting of a field hospital where the Hexapod is used to scan and draw a map of the Field hospital environment and to draw a path then the six wheeled mobile robot acts as a medical cargo delivery that enters based on the predefined map and path.