Internet based multimedia interface for the control and navigation of a mobile platform

This paper describes an Internet compatible human computer interface for the remote control of a mobile platform. The aim is to have a mobile platform equipped with on-board sensors and cameras remotely piloted by means of a standard Internet interface. The main objective for the development of such a system is to demonstrate and evaluate the possibility of having robotics devices (including mobile ones) remotely controlled using Internet standards, i.e., IP protocol, HTML, VRML and Java. The main advantage of such an approach is that the human computer interface becomes completely independent of the platform. Indeed, an operator can control the remote devices using a standard low cost PC, or a higher performing engineering workstation. The prototype system, though under continuous development (e.g., adding new devices and functionality) has been working for several months without any problems. It has been possible to have the mobile platform successfully controlled and steered from the University of Leeds (UK), i.e., more than 2500 Km away