Design and Coverage Path Planning of a Disinfection Robot

Abstract

Eliminating pathogen exposure is an important approach to control outbreaks of epidemics such as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). To deal with pathogenic environments, using disinfection robots is a practicable choice. This research formulates a 3D (three-dimensional) spatial disinfection strategy for a disinfection robot. First, a disinfection robot is designed with an extensible control framework for the integration of additional functions. The robot has eight degrees of freedom that can handle disinfection tasks in complex 3D environments where normal disinfection robots lack the capability to ensure complete disinfection. An ingenious clamping mechanism is designed to increase flexibility and adaptability. Secondly, a new coverage path planning algorithm targeted at the spraying area is used. This algorithm aims to achieve an optimal path via the rotating calipers algorithm after transformation between a 2D (two-dimensional) array and 3D space. Finally, the performance of the designed robot is tested through a series of simulations and experiments in various spaces that humans usually live in. The results demonstrate that the robot can effectively perform disinfection tasks both in computer simulation and in reality.

Path Planning of Ant Colony Algorithm Based on Decision Tree in the Context of COVID-19

“…A novel trajectory planner dedicated to disinfection tasks based on adjustable APF optimized by GA has been developed by Tiseni et al [25], which can self-adapt to the environment to generate a suitable path planning scheme to ensure the completion of disinfection tasks. Xu et al [26] proposed an intelligent robotic system with effective zero-contact disinfection service, which used a coverage path planning (CPP) algorithm to generate a reasonable coverage path in a three-dimensional environment. In order to solve the deadlock problem caused by the complete coverage path planning (CCPP) algorithm, a preventive deadlock processing algorithm (PDPA), and an escape route generator algorithm (ERGA) were proposed to improve the disinfection path planning of mobile robots by Rodrigo et al [27].…”