Path planning algorithm for an autonomous air sanitizing mobile robot in indoor scenarios

Robotics is now a well-established but constantly evolving sector which has reached multiple field ranging from large manipulators for industry applications to smarter mobile robots for housework that requires greater human interaction capabilities. An interesting branch in the robotics world is the Service Robotics, whose main purpose is to help people and improve their quality of life. Mobile robots are widely used in this area, they have to carry out tasks that require them to navigate in known and unknown spaces, thus are of paramount importance the abilities to measure the space around them with different kind of sensors (Lidar, camera, TOF, …) and to try to have a perception of their position in the 3D-space (Odometry). In the past two years, one of the biggest problems that has involved our society is Covid-19, a dangerous virus that makes the air its main vector of contagion. The objective of this thesis work, which is part of a collaboration between the PIC4SeR (Politecnico di Torino Interdepartmental Center for Service Robotics) and the Innovation Center of Intesa Sanpaolo, is to develop an autonomous mobile platform, equipped with CO2 sensor and an air sanitizer, capable of performing the sanitization of the air in a working environment (offices, meeting rooms, etc.) to limit the risks of Covid-19 contagious in indoor scenarios. In details, a simulated environment with different rooms and corridors was created. Then, after creating a detailed map of the working environment, a path planning algorithm has been developed using ROS2 and NAV2. This custom algorithm optimizes the path that the robot has to follow when it moves from one room to another, but the algorithm selects also the shortest path to perform the sanitization process of a room. In addition, in the path planning algorithm, the state of charge of the robot’s battery has been taken into account as well as the possible presence of closed doors between different rooms. The final goal is to perform a shorter and better optimized sanitization.