3D modeling of indoor environments for a robotic security guard

Autonomous mobile robots will play a major role in future security and surveillance tasks for large scale environments such as shopping malls, airports, hospitals and museums. Robotic security guards will autonomously survey such environments, unless a remote human operator takes over control. In this context a 3D model can convey much more useful information than the typical 2D maps used in many robotic applications today, both for visualisation of information and as human machine interface for remote control. This paper addresses the challenge of building such a model of a large environment (50m x 60m) using data from the robot’s own sensors: a 2D laser scanner and a panoramic camera. The data are processed in a pipeline that comprises automatic, semi-automatic and manual stages. The user can interact with the reconstruction process where necessary to ensure robustness and completeness of the model. A hybrid representation, tailored to the application, has been chosen: floors and walls are represented efficiently by textured planes. Non-planar structures like stairs and tables, which are represented by point clouds, can be added if desired. Our methods to extract these structures include: simultaneous localization and mapping in 2D and wall extraction based on laser scanner range data, building textures from multiple omni-directional images using multi-resolution blending, and calculation of 3D geometry by a graph cut stereo technique. Various renderings illustrate the usability of the model for visualising the security guard’s position and environment

Active Mapping and Robot Exploration: A Survey

Simultaneous localization and mapping responds to the problem of building a map of the environment without any prior information and based on the data obtained from one or more sensors. In most situations, the robot is driven by a human operator, but some systems are capable of navigating autonomously while mapping, which is called native simultaneous localization and mapping. This strategy focuses on actively calculating the trajectories to explore the environment while building a map with a minimum error. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the research work developed in this field is provided, targeting the most relevant contributions in indoor mobile robotics.This research was funded by the ELKARTEK project ELKARBOT KK-2020/00092 of the Basque Government

Autonomous systems for operations in critical environments

This paper proposes an environment devoted to simulate the use of autonomous systems in the context of space exploratory missions and operations; this research focuses on supporting engineering of autonomous systems and of their innovative artificial intelligences through interoperable simulation. The proposed approach enables also development of training and educational solutions for use of robots and autonomous systems in space critical environments. The paper addresses different application areas including robotic inventory and warehouse solutions, intelligent space guard systems, drones for supporting extravehicular activities and for managing accidents and health emergencies. The paper investigates the potential of autonomous systems as well as their capability to interoperate with other systems and with humans, especially in critical environments. Finally, the paper presents the existing researches for interoperable simulators devoted to address these challenging topics within Simulation Exploratory Experience initiative

Guaranteeing Spoof-Resilient Multi-Robot Networks

Multi-robot networks use wireless communication to provide wide-ranging services such as aerial surveillance and unmanned delivery. However, effective coordination between multiple robots requires trust, making them particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Specifically, such networks can be gravely disrupted by the Sybil attack, where even a single malicious robot can spoof a large number of fake clients. This paper proposes a new solution to defend against the Sybil attack, without requiring expensive cryptographic key-distribution. Our core contribution is a novel algorithm implemented on commercial Wi-Fi radios that can "sense" spoofers using the physics of wireless signals. We derive theoretical guarantees on how this algorithm bounds the impact of the Sybil Attack on a broad class of robotic coverage problems. We experimentally validate our claims using a team of AscTec quadrotor servers and iRobot Create ground clients, and demonstrate spoofer detection rates over 96%

Supporting active and healthy aging with advanced robotics integrated in smart environment

The technological advances in the robotic and ICT fields represent an effective solution to address specific societal problems to support ageing and independent life. One of the key factors for these technologies is the integration of service robotics for optimising social services and improving quality of life of the elderly population. This chapter aims to underline the barriers of the state of the art, furthermore the authors present their concrete experiences to overcome these barriers gained at the RoboTown Living Lab of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna within past and current projects. They analyse and discuss the results in order to give recommendations based on their experiences. Furthermore, this work highlights the trend of development from stand-alone solutions to cloud computing architecture, describing the future research directions

Satellite Navigation for the Age of Autonomy

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) brought navigation to the masses. Coupled with smartphones, the blue dot in the palm of our hands has forever changed the way we interact with the world. Looking forward, cyber-physical systems such as self-driving cars and aerial mobility are pushing the limits of what localization technologies including GNSS can provide. This autonomous revolution requires a solution that supports safety-critical operation, centimeter positioning, and cyber-security for millions of users. To meet these demands, we propose a navigation service from Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites which deliver precision in-part through faster motion, higher power signals for added robustness to interference, constellation autonomous integrity monitoring for integrity, and encryption / authentication for resistance to spoofing attacks. This paradigm is enabled by the 'New Space' movement, where highly capable satellites and components are now built on assembly lines and launch costs have decreased by more than tenfold. Such a ubiquitous positioning service enables a consistent and secure standard where trustworthy information can be validated and shared, extending the electronic horizon from sensor line of sight to an entire city. This enables the situational awareness needed for true safe operation to support autonomy at scale.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 2020 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS