Monitoring the environmental risk for the elderly

Robotic devices are increasingly a research focus for liberation of humans from time-consuming traditional tasks, but the cost and complexity of such devices remain a daunting issue. This paper proposes a simple and cost-effective demonstration prototype system composed of a wireless module, sensors and a mobile robotic cart which prowls the target environment, for example a home or professional healthcare room for the elderly. Using low cost off-the-shelf components, the presented system is configured as a fire detector/alarm/extinguisher, but is adaptable to many other configurations. It demonstrates that, with adequate planning and forethought, sophisticated robotic performance at low material and developmental cost can be obtained for common household, healthcare and industrial applications.