Campus Tour Bot

Dates

January — December 2006

Principal Investigator

Collin Johnson

Problem

Currently, tours of MIT involve a guide leading a group of visitors around campus, describing points of interest and answering questions. This method provides a limited view of MIT life, though, due to a number of factors, including lack of access to labs and many MIT-related events occurring when tours are not running.

Goal

The creation of an autonomous robot capable of giving multimedia-enhanced tours of the MIT campus.

Overview

Campus Tour Bot will be a robotic tour guide for the MIT campus. The robot will be capable of traversing the indoor corridors of MIT, allowing it to provide tours of the Infinite Corridor and buildings connected to the Infinite. The Campus Tour Bot will enhance the tourist experience by tailoring its tour path and style to a given group. As the robot travels around campus, it will provide location specific information and opportunities for the tourist to request more in depth information. Information may include audio from professors and administrators or films of events and activities at MIT. The robot will also have the ability to communicate in many languages, eliminating the language barrier that is common in campus tours.

Project Output

Publications

Links

Tourbot