Mobile human interface robot

1. A method of object detection for a mobile robot, the method comprising:

emitting a speckle pattern of light onto a scene about the robot while maneuvering the robot across a work surface of a working area;

receiving odometry measurements from a drive system of the robot while maneuvering the robot across the work surface;

determining a first motion of the robot based on the odometry measurements;

determining a current location of the robot in the working area based on the first robot motion and a previously determined location of the robot;

receiving reflections of the emitted speckle pattern off surfaces of a target object in the scene;

determining a second motion of the robot using visual odometry of the robot based on an optical flow of the received reflections;

determining a robot motion error between the first robot motion based on the drive system odometry and the second robot motion based on the visual odometry;

adjusting the current location of the robot based on the robot motion error;

determining a distance of each reflecting surface of the target object;

constructing a three-dimensional depth map of the target object using the received reflections, the determined distance of each reflecting surface of the target object, and the adjusted current location of the robot; and

classifying the target object using the three-dimensional depth map, the classifying comprising:

determining a state, a pose, or a gesture of the target object;

classifying the target object as a living object based on the state, the pose, or the gesture of the target object;

determining whether the living object needs assistance by determining one or more of whether the living object is alive, sitting, lying down, waiving, falling, or fallen based on the state, the pose, or the gesture; and

when the living object needs assistance, determining a type of assistance needed based on the state, the pose, or the gesture.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing reference images of the speckle pattern as reflected off a reference object in the scene, the reference images captured at different distances from the reference object.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a primary speckle pattern on the target object and computing at least one of a respective cross-correlation and a decorrelation between the primary speckle pattern and the speckle patterns of the reference images.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising emitting the speckle pattern of light in intermittent pulses.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising altering a frequency of the emitted light pulses.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maneuvering the robot to avoid a target object classified as an obstacle.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying an occlusion in the scene about the robot, the occlusion indicating an un-viewable area in the scene by one or more imaging sensors of the robot from a current vantage point; and

maneuvering the robot across the work surface of the working area to obtain a new vantage point that allows the one or more image sensors to detect the target object in the occlusion.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the living object needs assistance comprises determining whether the living object is resting or injured.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the living object needs assistance further comprises resolving the state, the pose, and/or the gesture of the target object and determining whether the target object is alive, sitting, lying down, waiving, falling, or fallen.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture of the target object is a falling or waving gesture.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, when the living object needs assistance, maneuvering the robot to approach the target object based on the three-dimensional depth map.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

maneuvering the robot to move toward and stop next to the target object; and

verifying a location of the target object and/or the state, the pose, and/or the gesture of the target object.