2,935 research outputs found
Mapping with Sparse Local Sensors and Strong Hierarchical Priors
The paradigm case for robotic mapping assumes large quantities of sensory information which allow the use of relatively weak priors. In contrast, the present study considers the mapping problem in environments where only sparse, local sensory information is available. To compensate for these weak likelihoods, we make use of strong hierarchical object priors. Hierarchical models were popular in classical blackboard systems but are here applied in a Bayesian setting and novelly deployed as a mapping algorithm. We give proof of concept results, intended to demonstrate the algorithm’s applicability as a part of a tactile SLAM module for the whiskered SCRATCHbot mobile robot platform
Towards hierarchical blackboard mapping on a whiskered robot
The paradigm case for robotic mapping assumes large quantities of sensory information which allow the use of relatively weak priors. In contrast, the present study considers the mapping problem for a mobile robot, CrunchBot, where only sparse, local tactile information from whisker sensors is available. To compensate for such weak likelihood information, we make use of low-level signal processing and strong hierarchical object priors. Hierarchical models were popular in classical blackboard systems but are here applied in a Bayesian setting as a mapping algorithm. The hierarchical models require reports of whisker distance to contact and of surface orientation at contact, and we demonstrate that this information can be retrieved by classifiers from strain data collected by CrunchBot's physical whiskers. We then provide a demonstration in simulation of how this information can be used to build maps (but not yet full SLAM) in an zero-odometry-noise environment containing walls and table-like hierarchical objects. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
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
Neural Connectivity with Hidden Gaussian Graphical State-Model
The noninvasive procedures for neural connectivity are under questioning.
Theoretical models sustain that the electromagnetic field registered at
external sensors is elicited by currents at neural space. Nevertheless, what we
observe at the sensor space is a superposition of projected fields, from the
whole gray-matter. This is the reason for a major pitfall of noninvasive
Electrophysiology methods: distorted reconstruction of neural activity and its
connectivity or leakage. It has been proven that current methods produce
incorrect connectomes. Somewhat related to the incorrect connectivity
modelling, they disregard either Systems Theory and Bayesian Information
Theory. We introduce a new formalism that attains for it, Hidden Gaussian
Graphical State-Model (HIGGS). A neural Gaussian Graphical Model (GGM) hidden
by the observation equation of Magneto-encephalographic (MEEG) signals. HIGGS
is equivalent to a frequency domain Linear State Space Model (LSSM) but with
sparse connectivity prior. The mathematical contribution here is the theory for
high-dimensional and frequency-domain HIGGS solvers. We demonstrate that HIGGS
can attenuate the leakage effect in the most critical case: the distortion EEG
signal due to head volume conduction heterogeneities. Its application in EEG is
illustrated with retrieved connectivity patterns from human Steady State Visual
Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). We provide for the first time confirmatory evidence
for noninvasive procedures of neural connectivity: concurrent EEG and
Electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings on monkey. Open source packages are
freely available online, to reproduce the results presented in this paper and
to analyze external MEEG databases
Modeling and interpolation of the ambient magnetic field by Gaussian processes
Anomalies in the ambient magnetic field can be used as features in indoor
positioning and navigation. By using Maxwell's equations, we derive and present
a Bayesian non-parametric probabilistic modeling approach for interpolation and
extrapolation of the magnetic field. We model the magnetic field components
jointly by imposing a Gaussian process (GP) prior on the latent scalar
potential of the magnetic field. By rewriting the GP model in terms of a
Hilbert space representation, we circumvent the computational pitfalls
associated with GP modeling and provide a computationally efficient and
physically justified modeling tool for the ambient magnetic field. The model
allows for sequential updating of the estimate and time-dependent changes in
the magnetic field. The model is shown to work well in practice in different
applications: we demonstrate mapping of the magnetic field both with an
inexpensive Raspberry Pi powered robot and on foot using a standard smartphone.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Robotic
Collaborative sparse regression using spatially correlated supports - Application to hyperspectral unmixing
This paper presents a new Bayesian collaborative sparse regression method for
linear unmixing of hyperspectral images. Our contribution is twofold; first, we
propose a new Bayesian model for structured sparse regression in which the
supports of the sparse abundance vectors are a priori spatially correlated
across pixels (i.e., materials are spatially organised rather than randomly
distributed at a pixel level). This prior information is encoded in the model
through a truncated multivariate Ising Markov random field, which also takes
into consideration the facts that pixels cannot be empty (i.e, there is at
least one material present in each pixel), and that different materials may
exhibit different degrees of spatial regularity. Secondly, we propose an
advanced Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate the posterior
probabilities that materials are present or absent in each pixel, and,
conditionally to the maximum marginal a posteriori configuration of the
support, compute the MMSE estimates of the abundance vectors. A remarkable
property of this algorithm is that it self-adjusts the values of the parameters
of the Markov random field, thus relieving practitioners from setting
regularisation parameters by cross-validation. The performance of the proposed
methodology is finally demonstrated through a series of experiments with
synthetic and real data and comparisons with other algorithms from the
literature
A two-way regularization method for MEG source reconstruction
The MEG inverse problem refers to the reconstruction of the neural activity
of the brain from magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements. We propose a
two-way regularization (TWR) method to solve the MEG inverse problem under the
assumptions that only a small number of locations in space are responsible for
the measured signals (focality), and each source time course is smooth in time
(smoothness). The focality and smoothness of the reconstructed signals are
ensured respectively by imposing a sparsity-inducing penalty and a roughness
penalty in the data fitting criterion. A two-stage algorithm is developed for
fast computation, where a raw estimate of the source time course is obtained in
the first stage and then refined in the second stage by the two-way
regularization. The proposed method is shown to be effective on both synthetic
and real-world examples.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOAS531 the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
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