Web interfaces for mobile robots in public places

The growth of the World Wide Web provides unique opportunities to bring robots closer to people. The vision behind such endeavors ranges from relatively simple web-based inspections and surveillance applications to highly versatile applications that use robots connected to the web to establish a remote telepresence in dynamic and populated environments. In the latter scenario, robots play the role of a physical mediator, enabling remote people to acquire information, explore, manipulate, communicate, and interact physically with people far away. The article describes a series of web interfaces designed to remotely operate mobile robots in public places through the web. The design of these interfaces specifically addresses issues such as low bandwidth of interconnections, control brokering, and shared control as well as interaction with people in the robot's environment, which arise naturally in applications with web-based robot control. The interfaces have been tested extensively using two deployed service robots, which were installed as interactive tour guides in two museums. The article also discusses trade-offs and limitations of web-based robots that interact with people in populated public places.