Remote food shopping robot system in a supermarket -realization of the shopping task from remote places-

This paper describes a system which uses a mobile manipulator as a teleoperated tool for accessing and manipulating remote objects. This system attempts to answer the challenge of extending mobile robot potentials and usage in human daily life. The specific task we set up in this research is to help people buy fresh food in a supermarket from a remote location using the Internet. We built the prototype system by integrating custom designed components: the mobile manipulator, the sucker gripper, the shape scanner using a small laser range finder, and the communication interface. With this system, the selection of the food item by the remote user from the supermarket showcase, its close examination using the gripper, and final placement into the shopping basket were realized. This paper describes the hardware and software of this system, and shows the experimental result performed with the integrated system.