50,871 research outputs found
Crowdsourcing Swarm Manipulation Experiments: A Massive Online User Study with Large Swarms of Simple Robots
Micro- and nanorobotics have the potential to revolutionize many applications
including targeted material delivery, assembly, and surgery. The same
properties that promise breakthrough solutions---small size and large
populations---present unique challenges to generating controlled motion. We
want to use large swarms of robots to perform manipulation tasks;
unfortunately, human-swarm interaction studies as conducted today are limited
in sample size, are difficult to reproduce, and are prone to hardware failures.
We present an alternative.
This paper examines the perils, pitfalls, and possibilities we discovered by
launching SwarmControl.net, an online game where players steer swarms of up to
500 robots to complete manipulation challenges. We record statistics from
thousands of players, and use the game to explore aspects of large-population
robot control. We present the game framework as a new, open-source tool for
large-scale user experiments. Our results have potential applications in human
control of micro- and nanorobots, supply insight for automatic controllers, and
provide a template for large online robotic research experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures, to appear at 2014 IEEE International Conference
on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2014
Seafloor characterization using airborne hyperspectral co-registration procedures independent from attitude and positioning sensors
The advance of remote-sensing technology and data-storage capabilities has progressed in the last decade to commercial multi-sensor data collection. There is a constant need to characterize, quantify and monitor the coastal areas for habitat research and coastal management. In this paper, we present work on seafloor characterization that uses hyperspectral imagery (HSI). The HSI data allows the operator to extend seafloor characterization from multibeam backscatter towards land and thus creates a seamless ocean-to-land characterization of the littoral zone
From Codes to Patterns: Designing Interactive Decoration for Tableware
ABSTRACT
We explore the idea of making aesthetic decorative patterns that contain multiple visual codes. We chart an iterative collaboration with ceramic designers and a restaurant to refine a recognition technology to work reliably on ceramics, produce a pattern book of designs, and prototype sets of tableware and a mobile app to enhance a dining experience. We document how the designers learned to work with and creatively exploit the technology, enriching their patterns with embellishments and backgrounds and developing strategies for embedding codes into complex designs. We discuss the potential and challenges of interacting with such patterns. We argue for a transition from designing âcodes to patternsâ that reflects the skills of designers alongside the development of new technologies
The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019
An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africaâs smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT âagripreneursâ. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains
Context-aware Dynamic Discovery and Configuration of 'Things' in Smart Environments
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a dynamic global information network
consisting of Internet-connected objects, such as RFIDs, sensors, actuators, as
well as other instruments and smart appliances that are becoming an integral
component of the future Internet. Currently, such Internet-connected objects or
`things' outnumber both people and computers connected to the Internet and
their population is expected to grow to 50 billion in the next 5 to 10 years.
To be able to develop IoT applications, such `things' must become dynamically
integrated into emerging information networks supported by architecturally
scalable and economically feasible Internet service delivery models, such as
cloud computing. Achieving such integration through discovery and configuration
of `things' is a challenging task. Towards this end, we propose a Context-Aware
Dynamic Discovery of {Things} (CADDOT) model. We have developed a tool
SmartLink, that is capable of discovering sensors deployed in a particular
location despite their heterogeneity. SmartLink helps to establish the direct
communication between sensor hardware and cloud-based IoT middleware platforms.
We address the challenge of heterogeneity using a plug in architecture. Our
prototype tool is developed on an Android platform. Further, we employ the
Global Sensor Network (GSN) as the IoT middleware for the proof of concept
validation. The significance of the proposed solution is validated using a
test-bed that comprises 52 Arduino-based Libelium sensors.Comment: Big Data and Internet of Things: A Roadmap for Smart Environments,
Studies in Computational Intelligence book series, Springer Berlin
Heidelberg, 201
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