Artificial Intelligence based Robotic Platforms for Autonomous Precision Agriculture

Robotic applications are continuously expanding into every aspect of human livelihood, it becomes paramount to leverage this trend for precision agriculture. The agricultural sector despite being an important sector for human is slowly evolving in terms of technology. Crude and manual processes which are conventionally used for agriculture have severe economic and social impacts. The inefficiencies and less productiveness of these methods results to food wastage amidst food shortage, inconsistencies, time consumption, higher labour expenses, and low yield. The world will benefit from automating the processes in agriculture. In bid of addressing such, it becomes necessary to build on existing platforms and develop intelligent autonomous vehicles for precision agriculture. This should include development of intelligent drones for precision agriculture, development of intelligent ground robots for precision agriculture, and other systems working cooperatively. To achieve this, we leverage on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mathematical methods to impact sufficient intelligence on robotic platforms to make them suitable for precision agriculture. This thesis explores the capabilities of AI for weed classification and detection, weed relative position estimation, fruit 6D pose estimation and virtual reality for teleoperated systems in fruit picking. Infestation of weeds diminishes the yield of crops in agriculture. Deep learning is becoming a more popular approach for identifying weeds on farmlands. However, precision agriculture requires that the object of interest (weed) is precisely classified and detected to facilitate removal or spraying. An approach for this is presented and involves cascading a classification network (ResNet-50) with a detection network (YOLO) for weed classification and detection which we termed Fused-YOLO. Thus, weeds can precisely be located and classified (type) within an image frame. Inspired by the precision of this detection model, the work extends to presenting a novel monocular vision-based approach for drones to detect multiple types of weeds and estimate their positions autonomously for precision agriculture applications. A drone is subjected to an elliptical trajectory while acquiring images from an onboard monecular camera. The images are fed to the fused-YOLO model in real-time. The centre of the detection bounding boxes is leveraged to be the centre of the detected object of interest (weeds). The centre pixels are extracted and converted into world coordinates forming azimuth and elevation angles from the target to the UAV and are effectively used in an estimation scheme that adopts the Unscented Kalman Filteration to estimate the exact relative positions of the weeds. The robustness of this algorithm allows for both indoor and outdoor implementation while achieving a competitive result with affordable off-the-shelf sensors. Artificial intelligence for autonomous 6D pose estimation has valuable contributions to agricultural practices rallying around fruit picking, harvesting, remote operations and other contact-related applications. Conventionally, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) based approaches are adopted for pose estimation. However, precision agriculture applications are demanding on higher accuracy at lower computational costs for real-time applications. Motivated by this, a novel architecture called Transpose is proposed based on transformers. TransPose is an improved Transformer-based 6D pose estimation with a depth refinement. More modalities often result in higher accuracy at the expense of computational cost. TransPose takes in a single RGB image as input without extra modality. However, an innovative light-weight depth estimation network architecture is incorporated into the model to estimate depth from an RGB image using a feature pyramid with an up-sampling method. A transformer model having proven to be efficient, regress the 6D pose directly and also outputs object patches. The depth and the patches are utilised to further refine the regressed 6D pose. The performance of the model is extensively assessed and compared with state-of-the-art methods. As part of this research, a first-ever fruit-oriented 6D pose dataset was acquired. Lastly, a seamless teleoperation pipeline that interfaces virtual reality with robots for precision agriculture tasks is proposed to pave the way for virtual agriculture. This utilises the Transpose model to estimate the 6D pose of a fruit and render it in a virtual reality environment. A robotic manipulator is which is then controlled from within the virtual reality environment to pick/harvest the fruit while being guided by the Transpose AI model. The robustness of the pipeline is tested over simulation and real-time implementation with a physical robotic manipulator is also investigated

Ono što tijelo može postati: kartografija između plesa i filozofije

This thesis does not explore what body is, but what a body can become. It explores the body as event-in-making throughout the concepts such as Body without Organs (Antonin Artaud, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari), bodying (Erin Manning), body-in-making (Erin Manning). What all of those concepts have in common is the same state - a state of becoming. Here, body becomes, and as such - it is a verb, an activity, a force. This thesis does not only explore the body as a force of becoming, but it also explores the becoming of that force - at the molecular, experiential and relational level. As Manning says, a body is always more-than one. Here, we are trying to approach the physical, experiential and relational becomings of a body in movement. That which moves the body from the state of being into the state of becoming is movement. This thesis is trying to show how movement never stops. We always move, therefore, there is a continuity of becoming. A body is never just a form, but a force-form. Movement is that which opens the body toward its becoming of force(s). A moving body is not a form of expression, but a forcefield of expressivity. Movement connects the body to its very field of expressivity where the body starts to dance its capacities to do, produce and become. The body is never predetermined or finished - at the physical, experiential or relational level - but it is an ongoing movement. Movement makes the body, therefore, the body itself is a movement. We are not dancing with the body, we are dancing the body itself. The body is a score, a body-score, of its own becoming. We are not interested in what, for example, a heart is, but we are interested in molecular, experiential and relational becomings of a heart; we are interested in what a heart can become. Organs are not expressions, but flows, intensities, fields of expressivity. This thesis is an attempt to map those flows - performative and conceptual ones - and to redirect them toward new becomings.Ova teza ne istražuje ono što tijelo jest, već ono što tijelo može postati. Ova teza istražuje tijelo kao događaj u nastajanju kroz koncepte kao što su Tijelo bez Organa (Antonon Artaud, Gilles Deleuze i Felix Guattari), bodying (Erin Manning), body-in-making (Erin Manning). Ono što svi ti koncepti dijele jest isto stanje - stanje postajanja. Tijelo neprestano postaje i kao takvo - ono je glagol, aktivnost, sila. Ova teza ne istražuje samo tijelo kao silu postajanja, već i postajanje te sile - na molekularnoj, iskustvenoj i relacijskoj razini. Kao što kaže Manning, tijelo je uvijek više nego "jedno". Ovdje pokušavamo pristupiti fizičkim, iskustvenim i relacijskim postajanjima tijela u pokretu. Ono što pomiče tijelo iz stanja bivanja u stanje postajanja jest pokret. Ova teza pokušava pokazati kako pokret nikada ne prestaje. Kontinuitet pokreta također je i kontinuitetom postajanja. Tijelo nikada nije samo forma, već forma-sila. Pokret otvara tijelo prema njegovom postajanju silom. Tijelo u pokretu nije formom ekspresije, već poljem-silom ekspresivnosti. Pokret povezuje tijelo s njegovim poljem ekspresivnosti gdje tijelo počinje plesati svoj potencijal činjenja, proizvođenja i postajanja. Tijelo nikada nije unaprijed zadano ili dovršeno - na fizičkoj, iskustvenoj ili relacijskoj razini - već je kontinuiranim pokretom. Pokret čini tijelo, dakle, tijelo je pokret. Ne plešemo s tijelom, već plešemo tijelo kao takvo. Tijelo je partitura, tijelo-partitura, vlastitog postajanja. Ne zanima nas što je, na primjer, srce, već nas zanimaju molekularna, iskustvena i relacijska postajanja srca; zanima nas samo ono što srce može postati. Organi nisu ekspresije, već tokovi, intenziteti, polja ekspresivnosti. Ova je teza pokušaj mapiranja tih tokova - performativnih i konceptualnih - te njihova preusmjerenja spram novih postajanja.Cette thèse n'explore pas ce qu'est le corps, mais ce qu'un corps peut devenir. Elle explore le corps comme un événement en train de se faire à travers les concepts tels que le Corps sans Organes (Antonin Artaud, Gilles Deleuze et Félix Guattari), le bodying (Erin Manning), le corps en train de se faire (Erin Manning) et le devenir (Gilles Deleuze et Félix Guattari). Ce que tous ces concepts ont en commun est l'état de devenir. Ici, le corps devient, et en tant que tel - c'est un verbe, une activité, une force. Cette thèse explore non seulement le corps comme une force de devenir, mais elle explore également le devenir de cette force - au niveau moléculaire, expérientiel et relationnel. Comme le dit Manning, un corps est toujours plus qu'un corps. Ici, nous essayons d'aborder les devenirs physiques, expérientiels et relationnels d'un corps en mouvement. Ce qui bouge le corps de l'état d'être vers l'état de devenir est le mouvement. Cette thèse tente de montrer comment le mouvement ne s'arrête jamais. Nous bougeons toujours, donc, il y a une continuité de devenir. Un corps n'est jamais uniquement une forme, il est une force-forme. Le mouvement est celui qui ouvre le corps vers son devenir de force(s). Un corps en mouvement n'est pas une forme d'expression, mais une force d'expressivité. Le mouvement relie le corps à sa force d'expressivité où le corps commence à danser ses capacités à faire, à produire et à devenir. Le corps n'est jamais prédéterminé ou fini - au niveau physique, expérientiel ou relationnel - il est un mouvement continu. Le mouvement fait le corps, par conséquent, le corps lui-même est un mouvement. Nous ne dansons pas avec le corps, nous dansons le corps lui-même. Le corps est une partition, un corps-partition, de son devenir. Nous ne nous intéressons pas, par exemple, à ce qu'est un cœur, mais nous sommes intéressés par les devenirs moléculaires, expérientiels et relationnels d'un cœur ; nous sommes intéressés par ce qu'un cœur peut devenir. Les organes ne sont pas des expressions, mais des flux, des intensités, des champs d'expressivité. Cette thèse tente de cartographier ces flux - performatifs et conceptuels - et de les réorienter vers de nouveaux devenirs

Construal in expression : An intersubjective approach to Cognitive Grammar

This doctoral dissertation is a metatheoretical survey into the central semantic concepts of Cognitive Grammar (CG), a semantics-driven theoretical grammar developed by Ronald W. Langacker. CG approaches language as a semiotic system inherently structured by certain cognition-general capacities, and it defends a usage-based conception of language, therefore denying the strict dichotomy between language and other realms of conceptualization and human experience. For CG, linguistic meaning is thus defined relative to our general cognitive and bodily disposition, as well as to the contents of experience the former structure. The cognitive and experiential aspects of meaning are described relative to so-called dimensions of construal. In this study, I will provide a systematic critical account of the theoretical explanation Cognitive Grammar provides for the dimensions of construal. The point of departure will be in social ontology of linguistic meaning developed and defended by Esa Itkonen, who has accordingly criticized Cognitive Grammar for inconsistent psychologism. According to Itkonen, linguistic meaning is an object of common knowledge and cannot be reduced into an individual s conceptualization; the dimensions of construal capture experiential meaning that is part of language as a social semiotic resource. This entails that linguistic semantics assume as its object of description non-objective, perspectival meanings that are commonly known. It will be argued that the usage-based nature of CG provides a way to release this tension between objective and non-objective aspects of meaning by explaining how perspectivity of semantics results from the acquisition and adjustment of meanings in actual discourse. This, however, necessitates an ontological revision of Cognitive Grammar and rehabilitation of the sociality of a linguistic meaning, which is the topic of this study. In addition to the work by Itkonen, prominent socially oriented cognitive linguists, such as Jordan Zlatev, have emphasized the necessary intersubjective basis of experiential meaning. Within the Fennistic studies, on the other hand, the intersubjective approach to CG and Cognitive Linguistics in general has taken the form of combining cognitive linguistic methodologies with Conversation Analysis. This study combines elements from both of these approaches in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of the notion of construal in CG. In so being, the main task of this study is to critically evaluate the cognition-based explanation for the dimensions of construal, provide a socially grounded alternative, and apply the alternative into analysis of construal in (written discourse). The thesis demonstrates that the dimensions of construal are not dependent on the aspects of cognitive theory on the basis of which they are argued for. Instead, the notion of construal is shown to be inherently intersubjective and context-sensitive. Construal captures aspects of semantic organization that are correlates of intersubjective alignment between conceptualizing subjects in a given discursive context.Kielellinen merkitys sisältää väistämättä jonkinlaisen näkökulman siihen, mihin kielellinen merkki, kuten sana tai syntaktinen kokonaisuus, viittaa. Esimerkiksi ilmauksia avohoitotapaus ja mielenterveyskuntoutuja voidaan käyttää sujuvasti samasta ihmisestä tai ihmisryhmästä, mutta silti niiden merkitys on eri. Ensimmäinen vaihtoehdoista ilmaisee suoraan eräänlaisen hoitopäätöksen synnyttämän kategorian (avohoito-) yhdistettynä kokonaisilmauksen alentavuutta alleviivaavaan pääsanaan (-tapaus). Toinen ilmauksista taas esittää kuvatun ihmisen aktiivisena toimijana, joka itse työskentelee terveytensä parantamiseksi. Merkityksen näkökulmaisuus voidaan mieltää ilmaistun asian tai asiaintilan ja kieleen kirjautuneen käsitteistäjän väliseksi suhteeksi: asiaa tai asiantilaa ikään kuin tarkastellaan jostakin sijainnista käsin kielellisesti. Toisaalta näkökulmaisuus on kaikille kielenkäyttäjille yhteistä tietoa. Kielitieteessä teoreettisena haasteena on pitkään ollut se, miten tämä näkökulmaisuuden ja jaettuuden yhdistelmä voidaan selittää ja kuvata johdonmukaisesti merkityksen tutkimuksessa. Tässä väitöstutkimuksessa otetaan kriittiseen tarkasteluun kognitiivisena kielioppina tunnettu teoreettinen kielioppi ja arvioidaan sen kykyä selittää ja kuvata merkityksen näkökulmaisuus käsitteen konstruointi ( construal ) kautta. Konstruointi käsittää joukon ulottuvuuksia, joiden arvoja muuttamalla sama asia voidaan ilmaista lukuisin eri tavoin: esimerkki-ilmauksissa yllä vaihtelee vaikkapa se, mikä viitatusta ihmisryhmästä profiloidaan eli tuodaan ilmauksen ilmitasolle. Tarkkaan ottaen tutkimus käsittelee näiden eri ulottuvuuksien teoreettista perustelua ja toisaalta sitä, kuinka koherentteja ne ovat kuvauskäsitteinä. Väitöstutkimus osoittaa, että konstruoinnin ulottuvuuksien avulla voidaan kuvata tehokkaasti ilmausten ymmärrettävyyden kannalta välttämättömiä merkityspiirteitä. Toisaalta konstruoinnin ulottuvuuksien teoreettinen perustelu on ongelmallinen. Kognitiivinen kielioppi pyrkii selittämään konstruoinnin ulottuvuudet yksilön kielellisen prosessoinnin ominaisuuksina, mikä on ristiriidassa kielellisen merkityksen jaettuuden kanssa. Väitöstutkimus osoittaa tämän selitystavan loogiset heikkoudet ja esittää konstruoinnille vaihtoehtoisen perustelun. Tässä perustelussa konstruointi esitetään ensisijaisesti sosiaalisena, ilmauksen ymmärrettävyyteen ja kohdennettuuteen liittyvänä ilmiönä

The alignment of screens

This thesis makes a distinction between screen and surface. It proposes that an inquiry into screens includes, but is not limited to, the study of surfaces. Screens and screening practices are about doing both divisions and vision. The habit of reducing screens to the display neglects their capacity to emplace separations (think of folding screens). In this thesis an investigation of screens becomes a matter of asking how surfaces and the gaps in between them articulate alignments of people and things with displays that, in practice, always leave something out of sight. Rather than losing touch with screens by reducing them to surfaces, in other words, I am interested in alternative screen configurations. For this task I sketch an approach that touches on screens through the figures of lines, surfaces, textures, folds, knots and cuts. Lines help me to make the case for thinking about screens as alignments. I then ask what kinds of observers emerge from reducing screens to single or digital surfaces. I trace that concern with Google Glass, a pair of “smartglasses” with a transparent display. To distinguish between screen and surface I suggest, through a study of biodetection and assistance dogs, how to qualify or texture screens within webs of relations. I further outline, with snapshots of my workplace and two screens named Vig and Ben, two modes of touching or un/en/folding their locations. Finally, with knots and cuts, I underline the unfolding of self checkouts in supermarkets, and the enfolding of automated tellers outside banks. All of these reconfigurations experiment with screens by moving sideways in order to approach their displays laterally, and make visible their (ab)use by those in power. This method is a way of grasping the embodiment and the materiality of screens, while responding to the practices, agencies, and affects aligned around, through, and away from their displays

Fassbinder's Germany

Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the most prominent and important authors of post-war European cinema. Thomas Elsaesser is the first to write a thoroughly analytical study of his work. He stresses the importance of a closer understanding of Fassbinder's career through a re-reading of his films as textual entities. Approaching the work from different thematic and analytical perspectives, Elsaesser offers both an overview and a number of detailed readings of crucial films, while also providing a European context for Fassbinder's own coming to terms with fascism