A one decade survey of autonomous mobile robot systems

Recently, autonomous mobile robots have gained popularity in the modern world due to their relevance technology and application in real world situations. The global market for mobile robots will grow significantly over the next 20 years. Autonomous mobile robots are found in many fields including institutions, industry, business, hospitals, agriculture as well as private households for the purpose of improving day-to-day activities and services. The development of technology has increased in the requirements for mobile robots because of the services and tasks provided by them, like rescue and research operations, surveillance, carry heavy objects and so on. Researchers have conducted many works on the importance of robots, their uses, and problems. This article aims to analyze the control system of mobile robots and the way robots have the ability of moving in real-world to achieve their goals. It should be noted that there are several technological directions in a mobile robot industry. It must be observed and integrated so that the robot functions properly: Navigation systems, localization systems, detection systems (sensors) along with motion and kinematics and dynamics systems. All such systems should be united through a control unit; thus, the mission or work of mobile robots are conducted with reliability

Cartographie hybride pour des environnements de grande taille

In this thesis, a novel vision based hybrid mapping framework which exploits metric, topological and semantic information is presented. We aim to obtain better computational efficiency than pure metrical mapping techniques, better accuracy as well as usability for robot guidance compared to the topological mapping. A crucial step of any mapping system is the loop closure detection which is the ability of knowing if the robot is revisiting a previously mapped area. Therefore, we first propose a hierarchical loop closure detection framework which also constructs the global topological structure of our hybrid map. Using this loop closure detection module, a hybrid mapping framework is proposed in two step. The first step can be understood as a topo-metric map with nodes corresponding to certain regions in the environment. Each node in turn is made up of a set of images acquired in that region. These maps are further augmented with metric information at those nodes which correspond to image sub-sequences acquired while the robot is revisiting the previously mapped area. The second step augments this model by using road semantics. A Conditional Random Field based classification on the metric reconstruction is used to semantically label the local robot path (road in our case) as straight, curved or junctions. Metric information of regions with curved roads and junctions is retained while that of other regions is discarded in the final map. Loop closure is performed only on junctions thereby increasing the efficiency and also accuracy of the map. By incorporating all of these new algorithms, the hybrid framework presented can perform as a robust, scalable SLAM approach, or act as a main part of a navigation tool which could be used on a mobile robot or an autonomous car in outdoor urban environments. Experimental results obtained on public datasets acquired in challenging urban environments are provided to demonstrate our approach.Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une nouvelle méthode de cartographie visuelle hybride qui exploite des informations métriques, topologiques et sémantiques. Notre but est de réduire le coût calculatoire par rapport à des techniques de cartographie purement métriques. Comparé à de la cartographie topologique, nous voulons plus de précision ainsi que la possibilité d’utiliser la carte pour le guidage de robots. Cette méthode hybride de construction de carte comprend deux étapes. La première étape peut être vue comme une carte topo-métrique avec des nœuds correspondants à certaines régions de l’environnement. Ces cartes sont ensuite complétées avec des données métriques aux nœuds correspondant à des sous-séquences d’images acquises quand le robot revenait dans des zones préalablement visitées. La deuxième étape augmente ce modèle en ajoutant des informations sémantiques. Une classification est effectuée sur la base des informations métriques en utilisant des champs de Markov conditionnels (CRF) pour donner un label sémantique à la trajectoire locale du robot (la route dans notre cas) qui peut être "doit", "virage" ou "intersection". L’information métrique des secteurs de route en virage ou en intersection est conservée alors que la métrique des lignes droites est effacée de la carte finale. La fermeture de boucle n’est réalisée que dans les intersections ce qui accroît l’efficacité du calcul et la précision de la carte. En intégrant tous ces nouveaux algorithmes, cette méthode hybride est robuste et peut être étendue à des environnements de grande taille. Elle peut être utilisée pour la navigation d’un robot mobile ou d’un véhicule autonome en environnement urbain. Nous présentons des résultats expérimentaux obtenus sur des jeux de données publics acquis en milieu urbain pour démontrer l’efficacité de l’approche proposée

Laser-Based Detection and Tracking of Moving Obstacles to Improve Perception of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

El objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar un sistema que mejore la etapa de percepción de vehículos terrestres no tripulados (UGVs) heterogéneos, consiguiendo con ello una navegación robusta en términos de seguridad y ahorro energético en diferentes entornos reales, tanto interiores como exteriores. La percepción debe tratar con obstáculos estáticos y dinámicos empleando sensores heterogéneos, tales como, odometría, sensor de distancia láser (LIDAR), unidad de medida inercial (IMU) y sistema de posicionamiento global (GPS), para obtener la información del entorno con la precisión más alta, permitiendo mejorar las etapas de planificación y evitación de obstáculos. Para conseguir este objetivo, se propone una etapa de mapeado de obstáculos dinámicos (DOMap) que contiene la información de los obstáculos estáticos y dinámicos. La propuesta se basa en una extensión del filtro de ocupación bayesiana (BOF) incluyendo velocidades no discretizadas. La detección de velocidades se obtiene con Flujo Óptico sobre una rejilla de medidas LIDAR discretizadas. Además, se gestionan las oclusiones entre obstáculos y se añade una etapa de seguimiento multi-hipótesis, mejorando la robustez de la propuesta (iDOMap). La propuesta ha sido probada en entornos simulados y reales con diferentes plataformas robóticas, incluyendo plataformas comerciales y la plataforma (PROPINA) desarrollada en esta tesis para mejorar la colaboración entre equipos de humanos y robots dentro del proyecto ABSYNTHE. Finalmente, se han propuesto métodos para calibrar la posición del LIDAR y mejorar la odometría con una IMU

Mechatronic Systems

Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools