Abstract
Robotics are being implemented into various industries at increasing rates as a viable alternative to manpower shortages for dull and dangerous jobs, and a low-risk option for cleaning and disinfecting operations. Even with the rapid strides in robotic technology in recent years, there is a lack of research for enabling the robots’ work environments to aid people doing strenuous or menial tasks. Just as human universal design principles have been applied to architectural environments to make them inclusive to more people, these principles can be adapted to allow mobile service robots to overcome barriers in their respective workspaces. This eventually allows the robots to prolong their shelf lives, reduce operational costs and enhance robotic productivity. In this thesis, the five robot-inclusive guidelines of safety, activity, observability, accessibility and manipulability are discussed, and how building infrastructure can incorporate them to create robot-friendly zones. These principles are used for creating robot-inclusive vertical garden infrastructure for enhancing the productivity of an existing vertical garden maintenance robot, along with guidelines for false ceilings and outdoor drain networks. These guidelines would not be exhaustive due to the myriad of work environments that mobile robots are being deployed in. An alternative hazard warning system is explored as a means of spatial adaptation for robot inclusivity under the ’Design for Robot’ framework to enhance their ability to pre-emptively detect and avoid hazards in their workspaces. Just as infrastructural aids have been designed to aid the Visually-Impaired and Blind (VIB) people in the form of tactile cues integrated into built environments, research was conducted to determine how the tactile markers could be adapted for robotic use as an advance hazard warning system for both robot and human users. Studies conducted in this research direction gave rise to the design and implementation of robot-inclusive tactile markers known as Passive Auto-Tactile Heuristic (PATH) tiles. A methodology for its proposed layout on architectural sites was also established to enable better area coverage and navigation with lesser reliance on the quality of the robot’s onboard visual equipment.