TOURBOT and WebFAIR: Web-operated mobile robots for tele-presence in populated exhibitions.

This paper presents developments and results from two recent projects, namely TOURBOT and Web- FAIR, funded by the Commission of the European Union (EU). Within these projects techniques that facilitate mobile robots to be deployed as interactive agents in populated environments, such as mu- seum exhibitions or trade shows, have been developed. The mobile robots can be tele-operated over the Internet and, this way, provide remote access to distant users. The developed robotic systems have been installed and operated in the premises of various sites. Use of the above techniques, as well as appropriate authoring tools, has resulted in drastic reduction of the installation times. Additionally, the systems were thoroughly tested and validated in real-world conditions. Such demonstrations ascertain the functionality and reliability of our methods and provide evidence as of the operation of the complete systems.