Mobile correctional facility robots

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to mobile correctional facility robots and systems and methods for coordinating mobile correctional facility robots to perform various tasks in a correctional facility. The mobile correctional facility robots can be used to perform many of the tasks traditionally assigned to correctional facility guards to help reduce the number of guards needed in any given correctional facility. When cooperation is employed among multiple mobile correctional facility robots to execute tasks, a central controller can be used to coordinate the efforts of the multiple robots to improve the performance of the overall system of robots as compared to the performance of the robots when working in uncoordinated effort to execute the tasks.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A mobile correctional facility robot comprising:
 a plurality of actuators;   a sensor array;   an output interface;   a memory comprising computer program instructions; and   a hardware processing unit configured to execute the computer program instructions to perform a task execution method using the plurality of actuators and sensor data corresponding to physical properties of a correctional facility surrounding the mobile correctional facility robot detected using the sensor array, the task execution method comprising:   traversing a route to a particular location in the correctional facility;   upon arriving at the particular location, providing access to the output interface;   receiving, via a user located at the particular location in the correctional facility, information regarding a party located outside of the correctional facility; and   establishing, via the output interface, a communication with a device associated with the party located outside of the correctional facility.   
     
     
         3 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware processing unit is further configured to execute the computer program instructions to perform a coordination method among a plurality of mobile correctional facility robots. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 3 , wherein the coordination method comprises:
 transmitting status information of the mobile correctional facility robot to a central controller;   receiving a task from the central controller; and   executing the task by performing the task execution method.   
     
     
         5 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 4 , wherein the status information of the mobile correctional facility robot comprises a location of the mobile correctional facility robot or an alert issued by the mobile correctional facility robot. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 5 , wherein the alert is issued by the mobile correctional facility robot in response to recognizing an event in the sensor data, wherein the event is a predetermined spoken word or phrase or a predetermined behavior. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 4 , wherein the hardware processing unit is configured to execute the computer program instructions to perform the task execution method upon receiving the task from the central controller. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile correction facility robot of  claim 7 , wherein the task is received from the central controller based on both the status information of the mobile correctional facility robot transmitted to the central controller and status information transmitted to the central controller from the plurality of mobile correctional facility robots. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , wherein the output interface comprises a detachable phone or a detachable tablet. 
     
     
         10 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a battery configured to provide power or a charging capability to the output interface.   
     
     
         11 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a storage compartment configured to store the output interface.   
     
     
         12 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , wherein the communication is established using a wireless infrastructure of the correctional facility. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware processing unit is further configured to execute the computer program instructions to perform a monitoring method comprising:
 detecting an object in the sensor data;   extracting one or more features of the object in the sensor data;   recognizing an event in the sensor data associated with the object; and   transmitting an alert based on the event recognized in the sensor data,   wherein the event is a predetermined spoken word or phrase or a predetermined behavior.   
     
     
         14 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 13 , wherein the alert is transmitted to a central controller as part of a coordination method among a plurality of mobile correctional facility robots. 
     
     
         15 . The mobile correctional facility robot of  claim 2 , wherein the particular location in the correctional facility is associated with an inmate of the correctional facility. 
     
     
         16 . A method for operating a mobile correctional facility robot, the method comprising:
 transmitting status information of the mobile correctional facility robot to a central controller;   receiving a task from the central controller, wherein the task is received from the central controller based on the status information of the mobile correctional facility robot transmitted to the central controller; and   performing the task using a plurality of actuators and sensor data corresponding to physical properties of an environment surrounding the mobile correctional facility robot, wherein the task comprises operations comprising:   traversing a route to a particular location in the correctional facility;   upon arriving at the particular location, providing access to an output interface located on the mobile correctional facility robot;   receiving, via a user located at the particular location in the correctional facility, information regarding a party located outside of the correctional facility; and   establishing, via the output interface, a communication with a device associated with the party located outside of the correctional facility.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the status information of the mobile correctional facility robot comprises a location of the mobile correctional facility robot or an alert issued by the mobile correctional facility robot. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the output interface comprises a detachable phone or a detachable tablet. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 providing electrical power to the detachable phone or the detachable tablet using a battery of the mobile correctional facility robot.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the communication is established using a wireless infrastructure of the correctional facility. 
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor in a mobile correctional facility robot cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 traversing a route to a particular location in the correctional facility;   upon arriving at the particular location, providing access to an output interface on the mobile correctional facility robot;   receiving, via a user located at the particular location in the correctional facility, information regarding a party located outside of the correctional facility; and   establishing, via the output interface, a communication with a device associated with the party located outside of the correctional facility.