RFID Robots and Vehicles for Item Inventory and Localization

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) vehicles are intensely becoming more and more pervasive in many fields concerning daily-life and work environments. This paper presents a state-of-the-art analysis of vehicles and robots adopting Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF) RFID technology. First, tagged vehicles are analysed to assess the main features and possible application scenarios. Then, vehicles equipped with UHF-RFID readers are presented with special focus on UHF-RFID robots which represent the prevailing category. Besides classical inventory operations, localization solutions are described together with novel applications in both social and industrial contexts.