Proceedings of the 32nd ISR(International Symposium on Robotics), 19-21 April 2001

The Resource Sharing Architecture of Mobile Robots in the Home Network En-
vironment Using Jini

Byoung-Ju Lee*, Joo-Ho Lee** and Gwi-Tae Park*

*Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
5-1, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Ku, SEOUL, KOREA
{sseng, gtpark}@elec.korea.ac.kr

**IIS #3, University of Tokyo

7-22-1, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
leejooho@ieee.org
Abstract
In the past decade, many robotic researchers
have tried to make mobile robots fully intelli-
gent, but there remain still so many problems.
Recently, to solve them many robotic research-
ers are much interested in designing a mobile
robot which can work in the networked and in-
telligent space. In this case, these robots receive
data from external resources to build the map for
navigation and perform their tasks by sharing
many external resources around them. These re-
searches show the possibility to realize the ro-
bot. However, the robot has some problems such
as its extension, modification and maintenance.
To solve the problems, we implemented a net-
work protocol that links all resources around the
robot.
In this paper by using Jini, we propose an ad-
Fig.1 An example of mobile robot in the home network environment
vanced resource sharing architecture(RSA) for a
mobile robot in the home network environment.
By using Jini we made several services of re- so many problems to be solved. For example, so expen-
sources around a robot. There is a task managing sive devices such as gyroscope and laser range finder are
service for a certain task, and the service use necessary to recognize the environment and build a map
other service to perform a task as well as make a for navigation. Hence, until now it is difficult to put mo-
new service of other services. To verify our ar- bile robots for a practical use. Recently, many robotic
chitecture we built a simple experimental space researchers are much interested in mobile robots in the
consisted of some resources. In this space we networked and intelligent space [1]. The space can per-
performed the tasks such as detection of desired ceive what is happening in it, build a model of itself,
objects, path generation and motion control for a communicate with its habitants and act based on things
robot, object avoidance and so on. Experimental happening in it. Coen et al. suggests intelligent agents
results show the mobile robot with our advanced known as the Scatterbrain[2]. The agent’s primary tasks
RSA performs successfully various tasks and the is to link various components of the room (e.g., tracking
proposed architecture is proper to develop mo- camera, speech recognition system) and to connect them
bile robots for a home network environment. to internal and external stores of information (e.g., a per-
son locator, the World Wide Web). The room is called
the smart room. This room is illustrated in Fig. 1. Lee et
1 Introduction al. tried to applied this paradigm to a mobile robot[3].
They showed that the robot in the networked and intelli-
In the past decade, many robotic researchers have tried
gent space received necessary data from external re-
to make mobile robots fully intelligent, but there are still

233
sources to build the map for navigation, and hence it did
not bring sensing devices with itself. Since 1998 our
laboratory has been interested in such an embedded
space and mobile robots for it. By combining mobile
robots and the embedded space, we could get many good
features which could not be obtained before. For exam-
ple, without gyroscopes and laser range finders we can
get very precise positions of mobile robots and easily
extend their functions because the robot shares the re-
sources in the room [4][5]. However, these researches
only show the possibility to realize the robot. The robot
has some problems such as its extension, modification
and maintenance. To solve the problems, we imple-
mented a network protocol that links all resources around
the robot. We used Jini as a network protocol. It was
designed by the Sun microsystems for a protocol of net-
worked consumer electronics[6]. Many vendors are de-
veloping networked consumer electronics with a network
transceiver using Jini. As a result, if we use Jini, we can
use so many devices such as TV, air conditioner and
light as our resources.
In this paper, by using Jini, we propose an advanced
resource sharing architecture(RSA) for a mobile robot in
the home network environment. With Jini we made sev-
eral services of all resources around a robot. There is a
task managing service for a certain task, and the service
uses other service to perform a task as well as makes a
new service of other services.
In chapter 2, we will explain mobile robots in the
home network environment. Chapter 3 describes an ad-
vanced RSA. Chapter 4 shows results of experiments.
Finally, chapter 5 concludes this paper.
2 Mobile robots in the home network
environment
Sensors
Communication
Module
Main
Controller with Main Controller with low
High performance
performance
Sensors
Driver for Actuators
Actuators
(b) Mobile robot in the home network
(a) Convetional mobile robot
Fig.2 Architecture of a mobile robot
As shown in Fig.2(a) a conventional architecture of
mobile robot fundamentally consists of four components;
main controller with high performance, sensor, actuators
and communication unit. Robot with this architecture is
so expensive due to sensors such as gyroscopes, and la-
ser range finders, and moreover sensors get only limited
data about its environment. On the other hand, Fig.2(b)
shows an architecture of the mobile robot in the home
network environment. The robot has only simple three
components: main controller, actuators, and communica-
tion unit. The robot don’t have to build a global map of
its environment because sensing devices for doing that
are not on the robot itself as shown in Fig.3. A map
building is done by external resources(e.g. CCD camera
hanging on the wall and an external host computer con-
nected with the camera). Because the sensing resources
are able to watch a global area where the robot is lo-
cated, they can calculate a position of the robot more
precisely. Moreover, tasks such as a localization and
decision making are done by an external resource so that
we can make a robot very simply.
3 An advanced resource sharing archi-
tecture of mobile robots using Jini
Networks must link all resources in RSA together. So
a proper protocol is needed to construct RSA from sev-
eral resources over the network. There are some tech-
nologies to construct systems from distributed objects
over the network such as Jini [TM]and UPnP(universal
plug and play). We selected Jini as a tool to construct
RSA because it offers a simple infrastructures for deliv-
ering services over the networks and creating spontane-
ous interaction between programs that use these services,
regardless of their hardware or software implementa-
tions. Moreover it is recently more popular than UPnP.
Hence we can use so many resources in which Jini is
implemented.
Communication
Module
3.1 Protocol interface, Jini
Jini is a set of APIs and network protocols that can
help developer to build and deploy distributed systems
that are organized as federations of services. Hardware
Driver for Actuators devices, software, communications channels that reside
on the network can be services. Jini defines a runtime
infrastructure that resides on the network and provides
mechanisms that enable you to add, remove, locate, and
Actuators access services. The runtime infrastructure resides on the
network in three places: in lookup services that sit on the
network; in the service providers (such as Jini-enabled
devices); and in clients. Lookup services are the central
environment organizing mechanism for Jini-based systems. When new
services become available on the network, they register
themselves with a lookup service. When clients wish to
234
 ternal resources are regarded as local components on the
Lookup
robot themselves. As a result a developer designs a robot
Service without considering a network protocol between a robot
Service Discovery and external resources. Additionally because Jini basi-
Provider
Service 1 cally supplies ‘PnP(plug and play)’ function, a developer
Service 3 Join
don’t have to consider a configuration of each resource
Service 2 and partial faults of a system does not effect their whole
system.
Service 3
The suggested architecture fundamentally consists of
two physical components and three logical components
as shown in Fig.5. The Physical components are mobile
Lookup
robots and vision system with a network device, and the
Lookup Client
Service logical components are a vision service, robot operation
service and robot control service.
Service 1 Service 3 Proxy Service 3

Service 2 - Physical components

Service 3
Service
Provider
Fig.4 A run time infrastructure of a protocol, Jini
locate a service to assist with some task, they consult a
lookup service.
The runtime infrastructure uses one network-level pro-
tocol, called discovery, and two object-level protocols,
called join and lookup. Fig.4 describes it. Discovery en-
ables clients and services to locate lookup services. Join
enables a service to register itself in a lookup service.
Lookup enables a client to query a lookup service for
services that can help the client to accomplish its goals.
3.2 A advanced resource sharing architec-
ture
The most important characteristic of RSA is that ex-
Host PC
Jini Service for Vision System
Remote
control
Internet
Jini service should run on each device to realize an
ideal physical component. However, we cannot make Jini
run on all devices, since the OS such as Window98 or
Linux is required in order to run Jini. Hence some Jini
services are run on a PC. For example, we use the PC as
a Jini service for a image sensing resource and robot op-
eration.
- Logical components
Logical components are classified into three basic
components according to their functions: service for im-
age processing, robot operation and robot control.
- Jini service for image processing, VisionService
( Service Provider )
Jini service for a vision system acts as a service pro-
vider. It means that it serves a service to other clients. In
this system, it is a service to find a robot in environment,
localizes the robot and sends a position data to other cli-
ents to request it. The following program written in Java

Remote PC via Object Extraction Calibration

Internet

COM interface
Remote PC
Navigation
Display
for Robot
(Jini Service for Vision)

(Jini Service for Robot Network

Control) Driver Directshow

Decision Making
Sensor interface
Capture board
(TV card)
Jini Service for Robot Operation CCD Camera
Network based robot

Fig.5 An advanced resource sharing architecture

235
is to do it.
1: class VisionServiceImpl {
2: int robotX; // a x-axis coordination of the robot
3: int robotY; // a y-axis coordination of the robot
4: int robotDir; // a direction of the robot
5: public void GetRobotInfo( int x, int y, int dir); //
retrieve a position information of the robot
6: public static void main() {
7: new VisionServiceImpl();
// Create a VisionServiceImpl instance;
8: new JoinManager(.,this,..);
// Join to the lookup service;
//Wait for client’s request;
9: } face
10:}
In line 8, a service provider registers an interface of
this function to a lookup table of a proxy in their network
and then waits for a request from any client.
- Jini service for robot operation, VisionClient
( Client, Server )
Jini service for robot operation acts as a service client
for image processing service and also service server for
robot control service. This service receives information
about robots and decides its task. This performed by fol-
lowing sequences. Firstly, a robot find an desired inter-
face at a lookup table of a proxy in its network and if the
interface is registered in the lookup table, it processes
the interface. Otherwise, the robot should wait until the
interface is registered by any service provider. The fol-
lowing program describes this process.
1:class VisionClient {
2: int targetX; // a x-axis coordination of a target
3: int targetY; // a y-axis coordination of a target
4: public void GetRobotOperation( int x, int y); // re-
trieve a kind of an operating method of robots
5: public static void main() {
6: ServiceFinder sf = new ServiceFinder( VisionSer-
vice.class ); // find the lookup service;
7: VisionService vs = (VisionService)
sf.getObject(); //get the matching service
8: vs.GetRobotInfo();// use the service interface
9: }
10:}
In line 6, a robot(client) finds a desired interface and
in line 8, an interface, ‘GetRobotInfo()’ is declared in a
service provider. Because it can find it at a lookup table,
it uses the function supplied by a service provider, vision
server.
236
- Jini service for robot control, VisionClient
( Client )
This acts as a service client of a service for robot op-
eration. On the other hand previous services is performed
on a host PC connected to a vision system, while this
service is on robots and control its actuators, simple sen-
sors and so on.
1:class RobotClient {
2:public static void main() {
3: ServiceFinder sf = new ServiceFinder( VisionCli-
ent.class ); // find the lookup service;
4: VisionClient vs = (VisionClient) sf.getObject();
//get the matching service
5: vs.GetRobotOperation();// use the service inter-
6: }
7:}
In line 3, a robot(client) finds a desired interface and
in line 5, an interface, ‘GetRobotOperation()’ is declared
in a service provider. Because it can find it at a lookup
table, it uses the function supplied by a service provider,
vision server.
So far we explain a new architecture of mobile robots
using Jini. In the next chapter, we will describe our robot
system and show some experimental results.
4 Experiment
4.1 Experimental system
Our system consists of a robot, vision system and
some logical components. A mobile robot, ‘Pioneer2 CE’
is used. As shown in Fig.5 we use a PCI-type capture
card and camera as a vision system. The robot and vision
system is linked by a wireless Ethernet (IEEE 802.11). In
this experiment a running speed of the robot is about
40[cm/sec]. The size of a test field is about 4x3[m], and
there are two obstacles in the field. We make the robot
de s i re d Path
S TART
GOAL
Fig.6 A feature of an experiment of our robot
go to the ‘GOAL’ point and then come back to the
‘START’ point along the simple path shown in Fig.6,
and repeat it seven times. We use PI-control for a path
tracking and a simple calibration algorithm for compen-
sating a distortion of a captured image. Following sub-
section briefly explains the calibration algorithm.
- Calibration for a localization of robots
x P P'
a (0,0)
(0,0)
y the proposed architecture is proper to develop mobile
L (k,q)
b b
(m,n)
(a) Coordination in a captured image (b) Real-world coordination
Fig.7 Calibration scheme for a localization
If a camera is located at a wall, a rectangular region
captured by the camera looks like trapezoid. As shown in
Fig.7 we build a transfer table and then map a point on a
coordination of a captured image into a real-world coor-
dination with a transform table. The followings are the
basic procedure to make a transform table. Firstly, select
4 line at a boundary in Fig.7(a) and then divide each line
at regular intervals. Secondly, among division points
made at the previous step find symmetrical points on the
boundary such as the point P and P’ in Fig.7(a) and then
connect the points respectively. As a result we can get
the number of lines connected to the points. If an interval
between division points on the same boundary is less
than the length of a pixel of a captured image, all points
on a captured image can be mapped into a real-world
coordinates as shown in Fig.7(b).
4.2 Experimental result
Fig.8 shows the trajectory that the robot kept track of
in processing the task. In Fig.8 a straight line is the path
which the robot goes along. There are some position er-
3 START
2
A
B Proc. Of IEEE Int. Conference of Intelligent Robotics
1 and Systems, pp. 1326-1333, 1997.
GOAL
0
0 1 2 3
Fig.8 An experimental result of a path tracking
rors at the point A, B and ‘GOAL’. We get a direction of
the robot by a vector of its displacement. Hence if a ro-
bot has a distorted direction during its stopping, it takes
some time to compensate the distortion. While the error
is decreased in running. The position error in the point
‘GOAL’ is influenced a mechanical faults of the robot,
slip, image calibration and so forth. But because this er-
ror is small enough not to effect an operation, we neglect
it.
a Experimental results show the mobile robot with our
advanced RSA performs successfully various tasks and
robots for a home network environment.
(k,q)
5 Conclusion
It is the main idea of RSA that Jini applied to limited
(m,n)
fields such as consumer electronics, is applied to more
various areas such as service robots and sensor devices.
Even though Jini is not necessary for robots in home
network environment, we can get some advantages by
using Jini. For example, firstly, developers can easily
design the robots without considering a network pro-
gramming such as a socket programming because exter-
nal resources can be used as if they were local compo-
nents of robots. Secondly, developers can save a devel-
opment time because Jini is based on Java so that a num-
ber of classes with various functions are supported. Fi-
nally, nowadays standard interfaces of Jini for consumer
electronics are being discussed. If they are established,
Jini will be used in various fields. It means that resources
which robots can use will increase. Thus, robots can be
utilized at various fields because all objects in the space
(e.g. TV, air conditioner, lights, windows, gas valves and
etc… ) can be used as resources.
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