Most of the currently deployed mobile platforms work
well as long as the environment is modified to provide
artificial landmarks to guide the mobile platform from a
specific starting point to a well-defined destination. These
constrains are not well accepted in some industries, changing
the environment to permit the inclusion of these robots
is not an option. For example, to lay marker lines on the
floor and to maintain them in good state involved a cost; but
to lay these marker lines in carpets might not be well
accepted for the image of certain places. Other changes
that might be requested in the environment are the placing
of reflective markers that must be visible all the time. If
something obstructs the marker the robot would not be able
to find its destination. Another reason that has limited the
inclusion of the mobile platforms in the market is their
price. According to the payload and features the platforms'
cost varies from few hundred thousand dollars to a couple of
million dollars.