Online Searching with an Autonomous Robot

We discuss online strategies for visibility-based searching for an object hidden behind a corner, using Kurt3D, a real autonomous mobile robot. This task is closely related to a number of well-studied problems. Our robot uses a three-dimensional laser scanner in a stop, scan, plan, go fashion for building a virtual three-dimensional environment. Besides planning trajectories and avoiding obstacles, Kurt3D is capable of identifying objects like a chair. We derive a practically useful and asymptotically optimal strategy that guarantees a competitive ratio of 2, which differs remarkably from the well-studied scenario without the need of stopping for surveying the environment. Our strategy is used by Kurt3D, documented in a separate video.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 12 photographs, 1 table, Latex, submitted for publicatio

Properties of Galaxy Groups in the SDSS: I.-- The Dependence of Colour, Star Formation, and Morphology on Halo Mass

Using a large galaxy group catalogue constructed from the SDSS, we investigate the correlation between various galaxy properties and halo mass. We split the population of galaxies in early types, late types, and intermediate types, based on their colour and specific star formation rate. At fixed luminosity, the early type fraction increases with increasing halo mass. Most importantly, this mass dependence is smooth and persists over the entire mass range probed, without any break or feature at any mass scale. We argue that the previous claim of a characteristic feature on galaxy group scales is an artefact of the environment estimators used. At fixed halo mass, the luminosity dependence of the type fractions is surprisingly weak: galaxy type depends more strongly on halo mass than on luminosity. We also find that the early type fraction decreases with increasing halo-centric radius. Contrary to previous studies, we find that this radial dependence is also present in low mass haloes. The properties of satellite galaxies are strongly correlated with those of their central galaxy. In particular, the early type fraction of satellites is significantly higher in a halo with an early type central galaxy than in a halo of the same mass but with a late type central galaxy. This phenomenon, which we call `galactic conformity', is present in haloes of all masses and for satellites of all luminosities. Finally, the fraction of intermediate type galaxies is always ~20 percent, independent of luminosity, independent of halo mass, independent of halo-centric radius, and independent of whether the galaxy is a central galaxy or a satellite galaxy. We discuss the implications of all these findings for galaxy formation and evolution.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures. Submitted for publication in MNRA

New High Proper Motion Stars from the Digitized Sky Survey. II. Northern Stars with 0.5<mu<2.0 arcsec/yr at High Galactic Latitudes

In a continuation of our systematic search for high proper motion stars in the Digitized Sky Survey, we have completed the analysis of northern sky fields at galactic latitudes above 25 degrees. With the help of our SUPERBLINK software, a powerful automated blink comparator developed by us, we have identified 1146 stars in the magnitude range 8<r<20 with proper motions 0.500<mu<2.000 arcsec/yr. These include 1080 stars previously listed in Luyten's proper motion catalogs (LHS, NLTT), 9 stars not previously listed in the Luyten catalogs but reported elsewhere in the literature (including 1 previously reported by our team), and 57 new objects reported here for the first time. This paper includes a list of positions, proper motions, magnitudes, and finder charts for all the new high proper motion stars. Combined with our previous study of low galactic latitude fields (see Paper I), our survey now covers over 98% of the northern sky. We conclude that the Luyten catalogs were 90% complete in the northern sky for stars with 0.5<mu<2.0 arcsec/yr down to magnitude r=19. We discuss the incompleteness of the old Luyten proper motion survey, and estimate completeness limits for our new survey.Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journa

A mask-based approach for the geometric calibration of thermal-infrared cameras

Accurate and efficient thermal-infrared (IR) camera calibration is important for advancing computer vision research within the thermal modality. This paper presents an approach for geometrically calibrating individual and multiple cameras in both the thermal and visible modalities. The proposed technique can be used to correct for lens distortion and to simultaneously reference both visible and thermal-IR cameras to a single coordinate frame. The most popular existing approach for the geometric calibration of thermal cameras uses a printed chessboard heated by a flood lamp and is comparatively inaccurate and difficult to execute. Additionally, software toolkits provided for calibration either are unsuitable for this task or require substantial manual intervention. A new geometric mask with high thermal contrast and not requiring a flood lamp is presented as an alternative calibration pattern. Calibration points on the pattern are then accurately located using a clustering-based algorithm which utilizes the maximally stable extremal region detector. This algorithm is integrated into an automatic end-to-end system for calibrating single or multiple cameras. The evaluation shows that using the proposed mask achieves a mean reprojection error up to 78% lower than that using a heated chessboard. The effectiveness of the approach is further demonstrated by using it to calibrate two multiple-camera multiple-modality setups. Source code and binaries for the developed software are provided on the project Web site

Spartan Daily, June 5, 1935

Volume 23, Issue 148https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2325/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, October 11, 1946

Volume 35, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3793/thumbnail.jp

The Eye Alone Is the Judge: Images and Design Patents

Design patents are an area of intellectual property law focused entirely on the visual, unlike copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or the various sui generis protections that have occasionally been enacted for specific types of innovation. Judges and lawyers in general are highly uncomfortable with images, yet design patents force direct legal engagement with images. This short piece offers an outsider’s view of what design patent law has to say about the use of images as legal tools, why tests for design patent infringement are likely to stay unsatisfactory, and what lessons other fields of intellectual property, specifically copyright, might take from design patent