Detecting Suspicious Objects With a Humanoid Robot Having a Metal Detector

Security guard robots are required to patrol airports, warehouses, malls, etc. and to find and cope with the suspicious person. In this study, we aim to realize a patrol task by humanoid robots. An operator teleoperates a humanoid robot having a metal detector and swing the detector a short distance away from the surface of the suspect's clothing, and checks for hidden metal objects under the clothing. In order to develop this body scan system, the measurement range of the metal detector depending on the swing velocity was determined experimentally. Based on this knowledge, metal object detection experiment was conducted under 3 conditions: by human, by a teleoperated humanoid robot with/without a balance control. As a result, it was shown that the substitution of the body search work by the humanoid robot using the metal detector could not be sufficiently carried out only by the remote control of the simple right hand. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the vision system for grasping the situation of the robot hand in the work and the whole body cooperation action and step action for the work range extension.