A corpus-based analysis of route instructions in human-robot interaction

This paper investigates how users employ spatial descriptions to navigate a speech-enabled robot. We created a simulated environment in which users gave route instructions in a dialogic real-time interaction with a robot, which was operated by naïve participants. The ability of robot monitoring was also manipulated in two experimental conditions. The results provide evidence that the content of the instructions and strategies of the users vary depending on the conditions and demands of the interaction. As expected, the route instructions frequently were underspecified and arbitrary. The findings of this study elucidate the complexity in interpreting spatial language in HRI. However, they also point to the need for endowing mobile robots with richer dialogue resources to compensate for the uncertainties arising from language as well as the environment

Monocular navigation for long-term autonomy

We present a reliable and robust monocular navigation system for an autonomous vehicle. The proposed method is computationally efficient, needs off-the-shelf equipment only and does not require any additional infrastructure like radio beacons or GPS. Contrary to traditional localization algorithms, which use advanced mathematical methods to determine vehicle position, our method uses a more practical approach. In our case, an image-feature-based monocular vision technique determines only the heading of the vehicle while the vehicle's odometry is used to estimate the distance traveled. We present a mathematical proof and experimental evidence indicating that the localization error of a robot guided by this principle is bound. The experiments demonstrate that the method can cope with variable illumination, lighting deficiency and both short- and long-term environment changes. This makes the method especially suitable for deployment in scenarios which require long-term autonomous operation

IMPLEMENTATION OF A LOCALIZATION-ORIENTED HRI FOR WALKING ROBOTS IN THE ROBOCUP ENVIRONMENT

This paper presents the design and implementation of a human–robot interface capable of evaluating robot localization performance and maintaining full control of robot behaviors in the RoboCup domain. The system consists of legged robots, behavior modules, an overhead visual tracking system, and a graphic user interface. A human–robot communication framework is designed for executing cooperative and competitive processing tasks between users and robots by using object oriented and modularized software architecture, operability, and functionality. Some experimental results are presented to show the performance of the proposed system based on simulated and real-time information. </jats:p

Galois lattice theory for probabilistic visual landmarks

This paper presents an original application of the Galois lattice theory, the visual landmark selection for topological localization of an autonomous mobile robot, equipped with a color camera. First, visual landmarks have to be selected in order to characterize a structural environment. Second, such landmarks have to be detected and updated for localization. These landmarks are combinations of attributes, and the selection process is done through a Galois lattice. This paper exposes the landmark selection process and focuses on probabilistic landmarks, which give the robot thorough information on how to locate itself. As a result, landmarks are no longer binary, but probabilistic. The full process of using such landmarks is described in this paper and validated through a robotics experiment

Past, Present, and Future of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping: Towards the Robust-Perception Age

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)consists in the concurrent construction of a model of the environment (the map), and the estimation of the state of the robot moving within it. The SLAM community has made astonishing progress over the last 30 years, enabling large-scale real-world applications, and witnessing a steady transition of this technology to industry. We survey the current state of SLAM. We start by presenting what is now the de-facto standard formulation for SLAM. We then review related work, covering a broad set of topics including robustness and scalability in long-term mapping, metric and semantic representations for mapping, theoretical performance guarantees, active SLAM and exploration, and other new frontiers. This paper simultaneously serves as a position paper and tutorial to those who are users of SLAM. By looking at the published research with a critical eye, we delineate open challenges and new research issues, that still deserve careful scientific investigation. The paper also contains the authors' take on two questions that often animate discussions during robotics conferences: Do robots need SLAM? and Is SLAM solved

Tahap penguasaan, sikap dan minat pelajar Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA terhadap mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggeris

Kajian ini dilakukan untuk mengenal pasti tahap penguasaan, sikap dan minat pelajar Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara Sri Gading terhadap Bahasa Inggeris. Kajian yang dijalankan ini berbentuk deskriptif atau lebih dikenali sebagai kaedah tinjauan. Seramai 325 orang pelajar Diploma in Construction Technology dari Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara di daerah Batu Pahat telah dipilih sebagai sampel dalam kajian ini. Data yang diperoleh melalui instrument soal selidik telah dianalisis untuk mendapatkan pengukuran min, sisihan piawai, dan Pekali Korelasi Pearson untuk melihat hubungan hasil dapatan data. Manakala, frekuensi dan peratusan digunakan bagi mengukur penguasaan pelajar. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa tahap penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris pelajar adalah berada pada tahap sederhana manakala faktor utama yang mempengaruhi penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris tersebut adalah minat diikuti oleh sikap. Hasil dapatan menggunakan pekali Korelasi Pearson juga menunjukkan bahawa terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara sikap dengan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris dan antara minat dengan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris. Kajian menunjukkan bahawa semakin positif sikap dan minat pelajar terhadap pengajaran dan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggeris semakin tinggi pencapaian mereka. Hasil daripada kajian ini diharapkan dapat membantu pelajar dalam meningkatkan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris dengan memupuk sikap positif dalam diri serta meningkatkan minat mereka terhadap Bahasa Inggeris dengan lebih baik. Oleh itu, diharap kajian ini dapat memberi panduan kepada pihak-pihak yang terlibat dalam membuat kajian yang akan datang