Imagine a robot carrying our luggage automatically, without the need for us to push it or tell it where to go, simply to follow us.
We are already closer to achieving it, and for this Panasonic has carried out a first test at the Takanawa Gateway Station.
It is a mobility service using autonomous tracking robots, an electric wheelchair with an autonomous tracking function, but which in the future could be a luggage cart, for example.
The test will be carried out from July to September of this year in a new station that was inaugurated in March 2020. At the moment it will be carried out in closed doors to later test it outdoors.
The project consists of three robotic units with the lead robot controlled by a station employee. The second and third robots automatically follow you in a column. The goal is to verify serviceability and test their automatic braking system (which allows them to slow down or come to a complete stop when an obstacle is detected), as well as an autonomous tracking function that ensures that robots in the rear follow. the lead robot.
If a person walks between the moving robots, the rear robot will automatically stop when its sensor detects the person, and will only move again once it recognizes that the path is clear.
Panasonic reports that it is working on tourist services for families and groups, including autonomous vehicles that can transport several people together in a group.
You can read the note at news.panasonic.com.
