Mobile robotic with web server and digital radio links

Claim 2

A mobile robot with an onboard web server, telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the internet, and onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of non internet connected external computer controlled devices; wherein the mobile robot, under control by commands sent over the internet, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a direct bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with the external device.

Claim 3

The robot of claim 1 , in which the state of the external computer controlled device is communicated to one or more remote internet sites.

Claim 4

The robot of claim 1 , in which the state of the external computer controlled device is modified in response to commands from one or more remote internet sites.

Claim 5

The robot of claim 1 , in which one or more of the external devices are selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio pickup, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, animal feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment.

Claim 6

The robot of claim 1 , in which the telecommunications means to link the onboard web server to the Internet employ the HTTP or TCP/IP protocols.

Claim 7

The robot of claim 1 , in which the web server sends SGML variant web pages selected from the group of HTML, XML or XHTML formats.

Claim 8

The robot of claim 1 , in which the remote internet site is a human operated standard web browser that can read SGML variant web pages selected from the group of HTML, XML, or XHTML formats.

Claim 9

The robot of claim 1 , in which the remote internet site is an automated computer system that processes the SGML variant web pages (selected from the group of HTML, XML, or XHTML) from the robot, and issues automatic commands to the robot.

Claim 10

The robot of claim 1 , in which communication between the remote internet site, and the external devices local to the robot, pass through the CGI interface of the robot's onboard web server.

Claim 11

The robot of claim 1 , in which the external devices maintain a discoverable registry of services, and where the robot discovers the available services of the external devices through short-range bi-directional digital radio links.

Claim 12

The robot of claim 1 , wherein the robot maintains a discoverable registry of its services, and makes this registry available to external devices through short-range bi-directional digital radio links.

Claim 13

The robot of claim 1 , in which additional instructions for repetitive, complex, or time-sensitive tasks are downloaded from the remote internet site, and stored onboard the robot for later automatic execution.

Claim 14

The robot of claim 1 , in which a set of instructions for robotic interaction with short-range bi-directional digital radio linked external devices are downloaded from the remote internet site, and stored onboard the robot for later automatic execution.

Claim 15

The robot of claim 1 , in which the short-range bi-directional digital radio link uses the 2.4 gigahertz frequency.

Claim 16

The robot of claim 14 , in which the short-range bi-directional digital radio link follows one or more of the protocols selected from the group of IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, and IEEE 802.15b.

Claim 17

The robot of claim 1 , in which the robot observes local conditions with onboard sensors, and transmits this information to a remote internet site to assist in either interpreting data from short-range bi-directional digital radio linked devices local to the robot, or to assist in selecting appropriate commands to send to short-range bi-directional digital radio linked devices local to the robot.

Claim 18

A mobile robot, with an onboard computer running a multitasking operating system, which in turn is running an onboard web server with a CGI interface; telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the Internet using the HTTP protocol; onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of non internet connected external computer controlled devices; wherein the mobile robot, under instruction by commands sent over the internet and through its onboard web server CGI interface to onboard robotics control programs, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a direct bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with one or more of the external devices, communicates the state of the external computer controlled devices back through the CGI interface on the onboard web server to a remote internet web browser, and sends commands back from the remote internet web browser back through the robot's onboard CGI interface to the external computer controlled devices.

Claim 19

A mobile robot, with an onboard computer running a multitasking operating system, which in turn is running an onboard web server with a CGI interface; telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the Internet using the HTTP protocol; onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of non internet connected external computer controlled devices; wherein the mobile robot, under instruction by commands sent over the internet and through its onboard web server CGI interface to onboard robotics control programs, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a direct bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with one or more of the external devices, communicates the state of the external computer controlled devices back through the CGI interface on the onboard web server to a remote internet web browser, and sends commands back from the remote internet web browser back through the robot's onboard CGI interface to the external computer controlled devices.

Claim 20

The robot of claim 17 , in which one or more of the external devices are selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio pickup, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, animal feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment.

Claim 21

The robot of claim 17 , in which the remote internet site is a human operated standard web browser that can read SGML variant web pages selected from the group of HTML, XMIL, or XHTML formats.

Claim 22

The robot of claim 17 , in which the remote internet site is an automated computer system that processes the SGML variant web pages (selected from the group of HTML, XML, or XHTML) from the robot, and issues automatic commands to the robot.

Claim 23

The robot of claim 17 , in which the external devices maintain a discoverable registry of services, and where the robot discovers the available services of the external devices through short-range bi-directional digital radio links.

Claim 24

The robot of claim 17 , wherein the robot maintains a discoverable registry of its services, and makes this registry available to external devices through short-range bi-directional digital radio links.

Claim 25

The robot of claim 17 , in which additional instructions for repetitive, complex, or time-sensitive tasks are downloaded from the remote internet site, and stored onboard the robot for later automatic execution.

Claim 26

The robot of claim 23 , in which the additional instructions are in XML format.

Claim 27

The robot of claim 17 , in which a set of instructions for robotic interaction with short-range bi-directional digital radio linked external devices are downloaded from the remote internet site, and stored onboard the robot for later automatic execution.

Claim 28

The robot of claim 24 , in which the instructions are in XML format.

Claim 29

The robot of claim 17 , in which the short-range bi-directional digital radio link uses the 2.4 gigahertz frequency.

Claim 30

The robot of claim 27 , in which the short-range bi-directional digital radio link follows one or more of the protocols selected from the group of IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, and IEEE 802.15b.

Claim 31

The robot of claim 17 , in which the onboard web server is running on a multi-tasking operating system derived from Linux or Unix.

Claim 32

The robot of claim 17 , in which the robot observes local conditions with onboard sensors, and transmits this information to a remote internet site to assist in either interpreting data from short-range bi-directional digital radio linked devices local to the robot, or to assist in selecting appropriate commands to send to short-range bi-directional digital radio linked devices local to the robot.

Claim 33

A mobile robot with an onboard web server, telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the internet, and onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of external computer controlled devices; said devices selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio camera, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, pet feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment; wherein the mobile robot, under control by commands sent over the internet, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with the external device.

Claim 34

A mobile robot with an onboard web server, telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the internet, and onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of external computer controlled devices; said devices selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio camera, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, pet feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment; wherein the mobile robot, under control by commands sent over the internet, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with the external device.

Claim 35

A mobile robot, with an onboard computer running a multitasking operating system, which in turn is running an onboard web server with a CGI interface; telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the Internet using the HTTP protocol; onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of external computer controlled devices; Said devices selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio camera, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, pet feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment; wherein the mobile robot, under instruction by commands sent over the internet and through its onboard web server CGI interface to onboard robotics control programs, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with one or more of the external devices, communicates the state of the external computer controlled devices back through the CGI interface on the onboard web server to a remote internet web browser, and sends commands back from the remote internet web browser back through the robot's onboard CGI interface to the external computer controlled devices.

Claim 36

A mobile robot, with an onboard computer running a multitasking operating system, which in turn is running an onboard web server with a CGI interface; telecommunications means to link the onboard web server with the Internet using the HTTP protocol; onboard telecommunications means to establish additional short-range bi-directional digital radio links with a plurality of external computer controlled devices; Said devices selected from the group consisting of short-range bi-directional digital radio linked: video camera, audio camera, environmental sensor, robotic arm, memory cache, automatic door, light, sprinkler, security system, audiovisual system, pet feeder, heating/air conditioning system, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, clothes dryer, health equipment, manufacturing equipment, or analytical equipment; wherein the mobile robot, under instruction by commands sent over the internet and through its onboard web server CGI interface to onboard robotics control programs, travels into the vicinity of one or more of the external computer controlled devices and establishes a bi-directional, short-range, digital radio link with one or more of the external devices, communicates the state of the external computer controlled devices back through the CGI interface on the onboard web server to a remote internet web browser, and sends commands back from the remote internet web browser back through the robot's onboard CGI interface to the external computer controlled devices.