Key Features

Sentinel² represents a leap forward in intelligent mobile robots. For the first time, consumers have the opportunity to buy an autonomous robot with a robust navigation system and intelligent charging station in a single package. Sentinel² began from the idea of developing a office / home version of the autonomously patrolling robots that Dr Robot deploys for its industrial clients. The challenge lay in redesigning the Constellation system, Dr Robot’s navigation technology, for a residential environment. Within working facilities, Constellation must often receive and send data over long distances and compete with other high-energy wireless communication systems on near spectra. The office / home environment offered Dr Robot the opportunity to shift Constellation’s focus away from power and on to sensitivity. The resulting residential version of Constellation is low power system that can provide high accuracy with only few components.

With Constellation’s redevelopment complete, providing the core functions of intelligent navigation: localization, path planning and collision avoidance, followed easily.

Sentinel² derives its name both from its ability to maintain awareness of its location within its environment and also the base robot’s typical application in commercial and industrial settings as a security and remote monitoring robot. As a package, Sentinel² provides users with the base functionality of intruder detection, remote monitoring and telepresence as application modules, but also includes the Dr Robot Developer Toolkit, enabling advanced users to create their own tasks for the robot to serve. Moveover, like all of Dr Robot’s robots, the core technology is platform independent, permitting integration of the robot into any network system communicating via RS232 serial or Ethernet TCP/IP.

The Sentinel² package includes everything you need to deploy a fully autonomous intelligent robot in your office / home. Hardware components include 3 pairs of navigation transponders (additional transponders can be ordered separately), an intelligent charging station and the most robust robot platform Dr Robot has developed. Once set up, the robot can patrol its environment and self-regulate its power supply, returning to the charger when necessary.

These core functionalities support Sentinel²'s included software modules: telepresence and remote monitoring. Also, Dr Robot includes its Robotnik Kit, a software development toolkit that provides the means to program your robot to serve new tasks and roles limited only by one's creativity.

Sentinel² package contents:

- Sentinel² robot
- Sentinel² Charging Station
- Constellation navigation system with 3 pairs of transponders (additional transponders can be ordered separately)
- Telepresence & Remote Monitoring modules
- Robotnik software developer toolkit

Remote Monitoring
From any location with an Internet connection, a user can see and hear exactly what Sentinel² does. Integrated with Sentinel²'s intelligent navigation system, the robot can cover an entire floor plan efficiently on a repeating or randomized schedule. Or, the robot can respond to any point-to-point navigation (e.g., "go to kitchen"), freeing a remote user from manually providing steering and direction. All the while, Sentinel²'s camera and microphone provide a first-person sense of the robot’s surroundings. The robot's onboard pyroelectric sensors will report if the robot detects the presence of a person in its vicinity.

Telepresence
As a complement to Remote Monitoring, Sentinel² supports two-way communication between individuals in the presence of the robot and anyone connected to Sentinel² remotely by IP. As a form of telepresence, Sentinel² permits verbal communication with individuals without requiring them to use a telephone or sit at a computer to do so. When actively linked to a remote user, the system's RA/RM modules offer convenience for those who may not have immediate access to an alternate means of communication.

Robotnik Kit
Sentinel² includes Dr Robot's software developer toolkit, a powerful developer-oriented package that enables users to build their own software modules to control Sentinel². Users enjoy easy access to all data in a standard Microsoft Windows programming environment (e.g., MS VB and VC++). For development and operation on other operating systems (e.g., Linux) and/or communication with other processors (MCU and DSP), the required raw communication protocol is provided. With free control to the robot's hardware, there's no limit on how Sentinel² can be re-tasked. Moreover, since Sentinel² can be modified with additional sensors, components or specialized, with the Robotnik Kit, Sentinel² can be just the starting point for developing the robot you've always wanted.

Platform Independence
Adaptability is a crucial aspect to a mobile robot's functional survival, and as one of Dr Robot's design ideals, it extends to integrating our robots within an existing network. Platform independence is a facet of all of our technology, and whether a user is operating within a Windows environment or running on a Lunix system, Dr Robot's products can connect seamlessly via any available RS232 or Ethernet TCP/IP serial communication. Platform independence is another benefit of Dr Robot's pursuit of resiliency and flexibility in its mobile and autonomous technologies.

Sentinel²'s intelligent navigation system is based on Constellation technology, a proprietary system that has long guided robots through industrial facilities and warehouses. In this consumer version, Constellation has been condensed into a compact package that retains the accuracy of the industrial version. Intelligent navigation is comprised of three components and its their proper integration that yields a mobile robot system that can reliably locate itself, plot a course to its destination and then steer its way there -adjusting the route if necessary. Autocharging is the natural complement to such a system, and is the key to persistent service.