A Health and Usage Monitoring System for ROS-based service robots

This paper presents a multi-core processing solution for ROS-based service robots. The power management together with the control and availability of the processing resources are supervised by a custom-made Power Management Board (PMB) based on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) micro controller, implementing a Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS). The proposed architecture also allows for the PMB to control the most critical robot functions in case of low battery conditions or impossibility of performing energy harvesting, thus extending the lifespan of the robot. All PMB data is recorded on a SD card so as to allow offline analyses of the robotic mission and, thus, support subsequent maintenance activities. Two different implementations of the proposed system have been fielded in two Multi-Robot Systems (MRS) for environmental monitoring, covering aerial, water surface, and wheeled ground vehicles. An additional implementation of the architecture is currently being deployed on an industrial autonomous logistics robot. These three implementations are presented and discussed.