The ability of detecting and following a specific person is indispensable for mobile service robots. Many image-based methods have been proposed for person detection and identification; however, they are sometimes vulnerable to illumination changes. This paper therefore proposes a novel approach to the problem, namely, using 3D LIDARs for person detection and identification and a directivity-controllable antenna (called ESPAR antenna) for localizing a specific person even under long-term occlusion and/or out-of-view situations. A sensor fusion framework, combined with an adaptive state-based strategy switching, has also been developed for achieving a reliable person following. Experimental results in actual outdoor environments show the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
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