Development of Rail-guided Smart Patrol System for Surveillance and Monitoring of Facilities Safety

Abstract

This paper describes the design and implementation of a rail-guided mobile robot-based monitoring system that can be used for autonomous monitoring of the facilities and rapid response to the on-site event. It is necessary to improve the safety and efficiency of the monitoring system when applying a robot system, and the implementation of intelligent functions can increase the level of automation to facilitate operation. In order to increase driving safety and lower the level of control, a two-track rail structure of circular pipes, U-shaped wheels, and a differential gear are used to develop a driving system that enables rotational path driving even with forward and backward movement. For the proper monitoring of facility conditions, high-temperature occurrence, and environmental quality, cameras (RGB and thermal imaging) and air quality sensors are chosen by considering the range of the monitoring site and target subjects. Data communication between the robot and the remote control room(a remote server) is built up to patrol in a planned schedule and deliver acquired video streams and environmental sensor data. Emergency alarms about high temperatures and the abnormality of air conditions can be generated by processing the transferred data. Additionally, deep network-based detection services on video data are implemented on the server for the detection of emergency situations; fall downs. Integrating the developed driving system, image/sensor data communication, and alarm function through data analysis in an operating framework reduces management work through automatic patrol and enables efficient on-site response when an alarm occurs. The validity of the proposed system is demonstrated by building and operating the system in the existing multi-use facility. The automatic patrol function and the manual operation function are performed through a test operation similar to the facility monitoring task of a human operator. The operator can control the robot to move to a desired position along the path, and by manipulating the camera module, the operator can check the on-site situation via a video stream The environmental sensor data is also transferred to the server and stored during operation, and the robot normally completes the automatic patrol task and returns to the charging station. In a simulation experiment to verify the detection alarm service, the test shows that a human falling down is detected even in the field. © 2023 IEEE.