27,554 research outputs found
Towards Autonomous Selective Harvesting: A Review of Robot Perception, Robot Design, Motion Planning and Control
This paper provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art in selective
harvesting robots (SHRs) and their potential for addressing the challenges of
global food production. SHRs have the potential to increase productivity,
reduce labour costs, and minimise food waste by selectively harvesting only
ripe fruits and vegetables. The paper discusses the main components of SHRs,
including perception, grasping, cutting, motion planning, and control. It also
highlights the challenges in developing SHR technologies, particularly in the
areas of robot design, motion planning and control. The paper also discusses
the potential benefits of integrating AI and soft robots and data-driven
methods to enhance the performance and robustness of SHR systems. Finally, the
paper identifies several open research questions in the field and highlights
the need for further research and development efforts to advance SHR
technologies to meet the challenges of global food production. Overall, this
paper provides a starting point for researchers and practitioners interested in
developing SHRs and highlights the need for more research in this field.Comment: Preprint: to be appeared in Journal of Field Robotic
Satellite Image Based Cross-view Localization for Autonomous Vehicle
Existing spatial localization techniques for autonomous vehicles mostly use a
pre-built 3D-HD map, often constructed using a survey-grade 3D mapping vehicle,
which is not only expensive but also laborious. This paper shows that by using
an off-the-shelf high-definition satellite image as a ready-to-use map, we are
able to achieve cross-view vehicle localization up to a satisfactory accuracy,
providing a cheaper and more practical way for localization. While the
utilization of satellite imagery for cross-view localization is an established
concept, the conventional methodology focuses primarily on image retrieval.
This paper introduces a novel approach to cross-view localization that departs
from the conventional image retrieval method. Specifically, our method develops
(1) a Geometric-align Feature Extractor (GaFE) that leverages measured 3D
points to bridge the geometric gap between ground and overhead views, (2) a
Pose Aware Branch (PAB) adopting a triplet loss to encourage pose-aware feature
extraction, and (3) a Recursive Pose Refine Branch (RPRB) using the
Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm to align the initial pose towards the true
vehicle pose iteratively. Our method is validated on KITTI and Ford Multi-AV
Seasonal datasets as ground view and Google Maps as the satellite view. The
results demonstrate the superiority of our method in cross-view localization
with median spatial and angular errors within meter and ,
respectively.Comment: Accepted by ICRA202
H-TSP: Hierarchically Solving the Large-Scale Travelling Salesman Problem
We propose an end-to-end learning framework based on hierarchical
reinforcement learning, called H-TSP, for addressing the large-scale Travelling
Salesman Problem (TSP). The proposed H-TSP constructs a solution of a TSP
instance starting from the scratch relying on two components: the upper-level
policy chooses a small subset of nodes (up to 200 in our experiment) from all
nodes that are to be traversed, while the lower-level policy takes the chosen
nodes as input and outputs a tour connecting them to the existing partial route
(initially only containing the depot). After jointly training the upper-level
and lower-level policies, our approach can directly generate solutions for the
given TSP instances without relying on any time-consuming search procedures. To
demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed approach, we have conducted extensive
experiments on randomly generated TSP instances with different numbers of
nodes. We show that H-TSP can achieve comparable results (gap 3.42% vs. 7.32%)
as SOTA search-based approaches, and more importantly, we reduce the time
consumption up to two orders of magnitude (3.32s vs. 395.85s). To the best of
our knowledge, H-TSP is the first end-to-end deep reinforcement learning
approach that can scale to TSP instances of up to 10000 nodes. Although there
are still gaps to SOTA results with respect to solution quality, we believe
that H-TSP will be useful for practical applications, particularly those that
are time-sensitive e.g., on-call routing and ride hailing service.Comment: Accepted by AAAI 2023, February 202
Formation control of robots in nonlinear two-dimensional potential
The formation control of multi-agent systems has garnered significant
research attention in both theoretical and practical aspects over the past two
decades. Despite this, the examination of how external environments impact
swarm formation dynamics and the design of formation control algorithms for
multi-agent systems in nonlinear external potentials have not been thoroughly
explored. In this paper, we apply our theoretical formulation of the formation
control algorithm to mobile robots operating in nonlinear external potentials.
To validate the algorithm's effectiveness, we conducted experiments using real
mobile robots. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of
Dynamic Mode Decomposition in predicting the velocity of robots in unknown
environments
Efficient simulations of ionized ISM emission lines: A detailed comparison between the FIRE high-redshift suite and observations
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the sub-millimeter
and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the infrared have achieved robust
spectroscopic detections of emission lines from the interstellar medium (ISM)
in some of the first galaxies. These unprecedented measurements provide
valuable information regarding the ISM properties, stellar populations, galaxy
morphologies, and kinematics in these high-redshift galaxies and, in principle,
offer powerful tests of state-of-the-art galaxy formation models, as
implemented in hydrodynamical simulations. To facilitate direct comparisons
between simulations and observations, we develop a fast post-processing
pipeline for predicting the line emission from the HII regions around simulated
star particles, accounting for spatial variations in the surrounding gas
density, metallicity, temperature, and incident radiation spectrum. Our ISM
line emission model currently captures H, H, and all of the
[OIII] and [OII] lines targeted by ALMA and the JWST at . We illustrate
the power of this approach by applying our line emission model to the publicly
available FIRE high- simulation suite and perform a detailed comparison with
current observations. We show that the FIRE mass--metallicity relation is in
agreement with ALMA/JWST measurements after accounting for the
inhomogeneities in ISM properties. We also quantitatively validate the one-zone
model description, which is widely used for interpreting [OIII] and H
line luminosity measurements. This model is publicly available and can be
implemented on top of a broad range of galaxy formation simulations for
comparison with JWST and ALMA measurements.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure
An iterative warping and clustering algorithm to estimate multiple wave-shape functions from a nonstationary oscillatory signal
Nonsinusoidal oscillatory signals are everywhere. In practice, the
nonsinusoidal oscillatory pattern, modeled as a 1-periodic wave-shape function
(WSF), might vary from cycle to cycle. When there are finite different WSFs,
, so that the WSF jumps from one to another suddenly, the
different WSFs and jumps encode useful information. We present an iterative
warping and clustering algorithm to estimate from a
nonstationary oscillatory signal with time-varying amplitude and frequency, and
hence the change points of the WSFs. The algorithm is a novel combination of
time-frequency analysis, singular value decomposition entropy and vector
spectral clustering. We demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm
with simulated and real signals, including the voice signal, arterial blood
pressure, electrocardiogram and accelerometer signal. Moreover, we provide a
mathematical justification of the algorithm under the assumption that the
amplitude and frequency of the signal are slowly time-varying and there are
finite change points that model sudden changes from one wave-shape function to
another one.Comment: 39 pages, 11 figure
ShakingBot: Dynamic Manipulation for Bagging
Bag manipulation through robots is complex and challenging due to the
deformability of the bag. Based on dynamic manipulation strategy, we propose a
new framework, ShakingBot, for the bagging tasks. ShakingBot utilizes a
perception module to identify the key region of the plastic bag from arbitrary
initial configurations. According to the segmentation, ShakingBot iteratively
executes a novel set of actions, including Bag Adjustment, Dual-arm Shaking,
and One-arm Holding, to open the bag. The dynamic action, Dual-arm Shaking, can
effectively open the bag without the need to account for the crumpled
configuration.Then, we insert the items and lift the bag for transport. We
perform our method on a dual-arm robot and achieve a success rate of 21/33 for
inserting at least one item across various initial bag configurations. In this
work, we demonstrate the performance of dynamic shaking actions compared to the
quasi-static manipulation in the bagging task. We also show that our method
generalizes to variations despite the bag's size, pattern, and color.Comment: Manipulating bag through robots to baggin
Enhancing Low-resolution Face Recognition with Feature Similarity Knowledge Distillation
In this study, we introduce a feature knowledge distillation framework to
improve low-resolution (LR) face recognition performance using knowledge
obtained from high-resolution (HR) images. The proposed framework transfers
informative features from an HR-trained network to an LR-trained network by
reducing the distance between them. A cosine similarity measure was employed as
a distance metric to effectively align the HR and LR features. This approach
differs from conventional knowledge distillation frameworks, which use the L_p
distance metrics and offer the advantage of converging well when reducing the
distance between features of different resolutions. Our framework achieved a 3%
improvement over the previous state-of-the-art method on the AgeDB-30 benchmark
without bells and whistles, while maintaining a strong performance on HR
images. The effectiveness of cosine similarity as a distance metric was
validated through statistical analysis, making our approach a promising
solution for real-world applications in which LR images are frequently
encountered. The code and pretrained models are publicly available on
https://github.com/gist-ailab/feature-similarity-KD
Event-based tracking of human hands
This paper proposes a novel method for human hands tracking using data from
an event camera. The event camera detects changes in brightness, measuring
motion, with low latency, no motion blur, low power consumption and high
dynamic range. Captured frames are analysed using lightweight algorithms
reporting 3D hand position data. The chosen pick-and-place scenario serves as
an example input for collaborative human-robot interactions and in obstacle
avoidance for human-robot safety applications. Events data are pre-processed
into intensity frames. The regions of interest (ROI) are defined through object
edge event activity, reducing noise. ROI features are extracted for use
in-depth perception. Event-based tracking of human hand demonstrated feasible,
in real time and at a low computational cost. The proposed ROI-finding method
reduces noise from intensity images, achieving up to 89% of data reduction in
relation to the original, while preserving the features. The depth estimation
error in relation to ground truth (measured with wearables), measured using
dynamic time warping and using a single event camera, is from 15 to 30
millimetres, depending on the plane it is measured. Tracking of human hands in
3D space using a single event camera data and lightweight algorithms to define
ROI features (hands tracking in space)
Technical Dimensions of Programming Systems
Programming requires much more than just writing code in a programming language. It is usually done in the context of a stateful environment, by interacting with a system through a graphical user interface. Yet, this wide space of possibilities lacks a common structure for navigation. Work on programming systems fails to form a coherent body of research, making it hard to improve on past work and advance the state of the art.
In computer science, much has been said and done to allow comparison of programming languages, yet no similar theory exists for programming systems; we believe that programming systems deserve a theory too.
We present a framework of technical dimensions which capture the underlying characteristics of programming systems and provide a means for conceptualizing and comparing them.
We identify technical dimensions by examining past influential programming systems and reviewing their design principles, technical capabilities, and styles of user interaction. Technical dimensions capture characteristics that may be studied, compared and advanced independently. This makes it possible to talk about programming systems in a way that can be shared and constructively debated rather than relying solely on personal impressions.
Our framework is derived using a qualitative analysis of past programming systems. We outline two concrete ways of using our framework. First, we show how it can analyze a recently developed novel programming system. Then, we use it to identify an interesting unexplored point in the design space of programming systems.
Much research effort focuses on building programming systems that are easier to use, accessible to non-experts, moldable and/or powerful, but such efforts are disconnected. They are informal, guided by the personal vision of their authors and thus are only evaluable and comparable on the basis of individual experience using them. By providing foundations for more systematic research, we can help programming systems researchers to stand, at last, on the shoulders of giants
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