Highly efficient Localisation utilising Weightless neural systems

Efficient localisation is a highly desirable property for an autonomous navigation system. Weightless neural networks offer a real-time approach to robotics applications by reducing hardware and software requirements for pattern recognition techniques. Such networks offer the potential for objects, structures, routes and locations to be easily identified and maps constructed from fused limited sensor data as information becomes available. We show that in the absence of concise and complex information, localisation can be obtained using simple algorithms from data with inherent uncertainties using a combination of Genetic Algorithm techniques applied to a Weightless Neural Architecture

Navigace mobilních robotů v neznámém prostředí s využitím měření vzdáleností

The ability of a robot to navigate itself in the environment is a crucial step towards its autonomy. Navigation as a subtask of the development of autonomous robots is the subject of this thesis, focusing on the development of a method for simultaneous localization an mapping (SLAM) of mobile robots in six degrees of freedom (DOF). As a part of this research, a platform for 3D range data acquisition based on a continuously inclined laser rangefinder was developed. This platform is presented, evaluating the measurements and also presenting the robotic equipment on which the platform can be fitted. The localization and mapping task is equal to the registration of multiple 3D images into a common frame of reference. For this purpose, a method based on the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm was developed. First, the originally implemented SLAM method is presented, focusing on the time-wise performance and the registration quality issues introduced by the implemented algorithms. In order to accelerate and improve the quality of the time-demanding 6DOF image registration, an extended method was developed. The major extension is the introduction of a factorized registration, extracting 2D representations of vertical objects called leveled maps from the 3D point sets, ensuring these representations are 3DOF invariant. The extracted representations are registered in 3DOF using ICP algorithm, allowing pre-alignment of the 3D data for the subsequent robust 6DOF ICP based registration. The extended method is presented, showing all important modifications to the original method. The developed registration method was evaluated using real 3D data acquired in different indoor environments, examining the benefits of the factorization and other extensions as well as the performance of the original ICP based method. The factorization gives promising results compared to a single phase 6DOF registration in vertically structured environments. Also, the disadvantages of the method are discussed, proposing possible solutions. Finally, the future prospects of the research are presented.Schopnost lokalizace a navigace je podmínkou autonomního provozu mobilních robotů. Předmětem této disertační práce jsou navigační metody se zaměřením na metodu pro simultánní lokalizaci a mapování (SLAM) mobilních robotů v šesti stupních volnosti (6DOF). Nedílnou součástí tohoto výzkumu byl vývoj platformy pro sběr 3D vzdálenostních dat s využitím kontinuálně naklápěného laserového řádkového scanneru. Tato platforma byla vyvinuta jako samostatný modul, aby mohla být umístěna na různé šasi mobilních robotů. Úkol lokalizace a mapování je ekvivalentní registraci více 3D obrazů do společného souřadného systému. Pro tyto účely byla vyvinuta metoda založená na algoritmu Iterative Closest Point Algorithm (ICP). Původně implementovaná verze navigační metody využívá ICP s akcelerací pomocí kd-stromů přičemž jsou zhodnoceny její kvalitativní a výkonnostní aspekty. Na základě této analýzy byly vyvinuty rozšíření původní metody založené na ICP. Jednou z hlavních modifikací je faktorizace registračního procesu, kdy tato faktorizace je založena na redukci dat: vytvoření 2D „leveled“ map (ve smyslu jednoúrovňových map) ze 3D vzdálenostních obrazů. Pro tuto redukci je technologicky i algoritmicky zajištěna invariantnost těchto map vůči třem stupňům volnosti. Tyto redukované mapy jsou registrovány pomocí ICP ve zbylých třech stupních volnosti, přičemž získaná transformace je aplikována na 3D data za účelem před-registrace 3D obrazů. Následně je provedena robustní 6DOF registrace. Rozšířená metoda je v disertační práci v popsána spolu se všemi podstatnými modifikacemi. Vyvinutá metoda byla otestována a zhodnocena s využitím skutečných 3D vzdálenostních dat naměřených v různých vnitřních prostředích. Jsou zhodnoceny přínosy faktorizace a jiných modifikací ve srovnání s původní jednofázovou 6DOF registrací, také jsou zmíněny nevýhody implementované metody a navrženy způsoby jejich řešení. Nakonec následuje návrh budoucího výzkumu a diskuse o možnostech dalšího rozvoje.

Modeling and interpolation of the ambient magnetic field by Gaussian processes

Anomalies in the ambient magnetic field can be used as features in indoor positioning and navigation. By using Maxwell's equations, we derive and present a Bayesian non-parametric probabilistic modeling approach for interpolation and extrapolation of the magnetic field. We model the magnetic field components jointly by imposing a Gaussian process (GP) prior on the latent scalar potential of the magnetic field. By rewriting the GP model in terms of a Hilbert space representation, we circumvent the computational pitfalls associated with GP modeling and provide a computationally efficient and physically justified modeling tool for the ambient magnetic field. The model allows for sequential updating of the estimate and time-dependent changes in the magnetic field. The model is shown to work well in practice in different applications: we demonstrate mapping of the magnetic field both with an inexpensive Raspberry Pi powered robot and on foot using a standard smartphone.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Robotic

Learning Matchable Image Transformations for Long-term Metric Visual Localization

Long-term metric self-localization is an essential capability of autonomous mobile robots, but remains challenging for vision-based systems due to appearance changes caused by lighting, weather, or seasonal variations. While experience-based mapping has proven to be an effective technique for bridging the `appearance gap,' the number of experiences required for reliable metric localization over days or months can be very large, and methods for reducing the necessary number of experiences are needed for this approach to scale. Taking inspiration from color constancy theory, we learn a nonlinear RGB-to-grayscale mapping that explicitly maximizes the number of inlier feature matches for images captured under different lighting and weather conditions, and use it as a pre-processing step in a conventional single-experience localization pipeline to improve its robustness to appearance change. We train this mapping by approximating the target non-differentiable localization pipeline with a deep neural network, and find that incorporating a learned low-dimensional context feature can further improve cross-appearance feature matching. Using synthetic and real-world datasets, we demonstrate substantial improvements in localization performance across day-night cycles, enabling continuous metric localization over a 30-hour period using a single mapping experience, and allowing experience-based localization to scale to long deployments with dramatically reduced data requirements.Comment: In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'20), Paris, France, May 31-June 4, 202

Human-Machine Interface for Remote Training of Robot Tasks

Regardless of their industrial or research application, the streamlining of robot operations is limited by the proximity of experienced users to the actual hardware. Be it massive open online robotics courses, crowd-sourcing of robot task training, or remote research on massive robot farms for machine learning, the need to create an apt remote Human-Machine Interface is quite prevalent. The paper at hand proposes a novel solution to the programming/training of remote robots employing an intuitive and accurate user-interface which offers all the benefits of working with real robots without imposing delays and inefficiency. The system includes: a vision-based 3D hand detection and gesture recognition subsystem, a simulated digital twin of a robot as visual feedback, and the "remote" robot learning/executing trajectories using dynamic motion primitives. Our results indicate that the system is a promising solution to the problem of remote training of robot tasks.Comment: Accepted in IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques - IST201

Uncertainty Minimization in Robotic 3D Mapping Systems Operating in Dynamic Large-Scale Environments

This dissertation research is motivated by the potential and promise of 3D sensing technologies in safety and security applications. With specific focus on unmanned robotic mapping to aid clean-up of hazardous environments, under-vehicle inspection, automatic runway/pavement inspection and modeling of urban environments, we develop modular, multi-sensor, multi-modality robotic 3D imaging prototypes using localization/navigation hardware, laser range scanners and video cameras. While deploying our multi-modality complementary approach to pose and structure recovery in dynamic real-world operating conditions, we observe several data fusion issues that state-of-the-art methodologies are not able to handle. Different bounds on the noise model of heterogeneous sensors, the dynamism of the operating conditions and the interaction of the sensing mechanisms with the environment introduce situations where sensors can intermittently degenerate to accuracy levels lower than their design specification. This observation necessitates the derivation of methods to integrate multi-sensor data considering sensor conflict, performance degradation and potential failure during operation. Our work in this dissertation contributes the derivation of a fault-diagnosis framework inspired by information complexity theory to the data fusion literature. We implement the framework as opportunistic sensing intelligence that is able to evolve a belief policy on the sensors within the multi-agent 3D mapping systems to survive and counter concerns of failure in challenging operating conditions. The implementation of the information-theoretic framework, in addition to eliminating failed/non-functional sensors and avoiding catastrophic fusion, is able to minimize uncertainty during autonomous operation by adaptively deciding to fuse or choose believable sensors. We demonstrate our framework through experiments in multi-sensor robot state localization in large scale dynamic environments and vision-based 3D inference. Our modular hardware and software design of robotic imaging prototypes along with the opportunistic sensing intelligence provides significant improvements towards autonomous accurate photo-realistic 3D mapping and remote visualization of scenes for the motivating applications

Simultaneous Parameter Calibration, Localization, and Mapping

The calibration parameters of a mobile robot play a substantial role in navigation tasks. Often these parameters are subject to variations that depend either on changes in the environment or on the load of the robot. In this paper, we propose an approach to simultaneously estimate a map of the environment, the position of the on-board sensors of the robot, and its kinematic parameters. Our method requires no prior knowledge about the environment and relies only on a rough initial guess of the parameters of the platform. The proposed approach estimates the parameters online and it is able to adapt to non-stationary changes of the configuration. We tested our approach in simulated environments and on a wide range of real-world data using different types of robotic platforms. (C) 2012 Taylor & Francis and The Robotics Society of Japa