  A wide range of human-robot collaborative applications in diverse domains
such as manufacturing, health care, the entertainment industry, and social
interactions, require an autonomous robot to follow its human companion.
Different working environments and applications pose diverse challenges by
adding constraints on the choice of sensors, the degree of autonomy, and
dynamics of a person-following robot. Researchers have addressed these
challenges in many ways and contributed to the development of a large body of
literature. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the literature by
categorizing different aspects of person-following by autonomous robots. Also,
the corresponding operational challenges are identified based on various design
choices for ground, underwater, and aerial scenarios. In addition,
state-of-the-art methods for perception, planning, control, and interaction are
elaborately discussed and their applicability in varied operational scenarios
are presented. Then, some of the prominent methods are qualitatively compared,
corresponding practicalities are illustrated, and their feasibility is analyzed
for various use-cases. Furthermore, several prospective application areas are
identified, and open problems are highlighted for future research.
