• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.954-962
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• 2002

In a park or street, we can see many people jogging or walking with their dogs tracking their masters. In this study, an entertainment robot that imitates a dog's behavior is created. The robot's task is tracking a moving target that is recognized as the master. In order to design the robot, the ecological approach. in which the robot's goals and surroundings heavily influence its design, is used. A three-wheel type locomotion system is designed as the robot's physical structure which can follow a human jogging in outdoor space like a park. A sensor system which can detect the position of a master for the robot in the outdoor space, is developed. This sensor system consists of a signal transmitter which is at the hand of a master and some sensors which are mounted on the robot. The transmitter emits RF(radio frequency) and ultrasonic signals and the sensors detect the direction and distance from the robot to the transmitter by using the received signals. For the control architecture of the robot, a purely reactive behavior-based method is used in order to increase speed of response. The developed robot is evaluated through experiments conducted in indoor and outdoor environments.