25,087 research outputs found
Mobile robot exploration with potential information fields
We present a mobile robot exploration strategy that computes trajectories that minimize both path and map entropies. The method evaluates joint entropy reduction and computes a potential Âżeld in robot conÂżguration space using these joint entropy reduction estimates. The exploration trajectory is computed descending on the gradient of these Âżeld. The technique uses Pose SLAM as its estimation backbone. Very efÂżcient kernel convolution mechanisms are used to evaluate entropy reduction for each sensor ray, and for each possible robot orientation, taking frontiers and obstacles into account. In the end, the computation of this Âżeld on the entire C-space is shown to be very efficient computationally. The approach is tested in simulations in a common publicly available dataset comparing favorably both in quality of estimates and execution time against another entropy reduction strategy that uses occupancy mapsPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Quantum Robot: Structure, Algorithms and Applications
A kind of brand-new robot, quantum robot, is proposed through fusing quantum
theory with robot technology. Quantum robot is essentially a complex quantum
system and it is generally composed of three fundamental parts: MQCU (multi
quantum computing units), quantum controller/actuator, and information
acquisition units. Corresponding to the system structure, several learning
control algorithms including quantum searching algorithm and quantum
reinforcement learning are presented for quantum robot. The theoretic results
show that quantum robot can reduce the complexity of O(N^2) in traditional
robot to O(N^(3/2)) using quantum searching algorithm, and the simulation
results demonstrate that quantum robot is also superior to traditional robot in
efficient learning by novel quantum reinforcement learning algorithm.
Considering the advantages of quantum robot, its some potential important
applications are also analyzed and prospected.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Robot swarming applications
This paper discusses the different modes of operation of a swarm of robots: (i) non-communicative swarming, (ii) communicative swarming, (iii) networking, (iv) olfactory-based navigation and (v) assistive swarming. I briefly present the state of the art in swarming and outline the major techniques applied for each mode of operation and discuss the related problems and expected results
Experiences on a motivational learning approach for robotics in undergraduate courses
This paper presents an educational experience carried out in robotics undergraduate courses from two
different degrees: Computer Science and Industrial Engineering, having students with diverse
capabilities and motivations. The experience compares two learning strategies for the practical
lessons of such courses: one relies on code snippets in Matlab to cope with typical robotic problems
like robot motion, localization, and mapping, while the second strategy opts for using the ROS
framework for the development of algorithms facing a competitive challenge, e.g. exploration
algorithms. The obtained studentsâ opinions were instructive, reporting, for example, that although they
consider harder to master ROS when compared to Matlab, it might be more useful in their (robotic
related) professional careers, which enhanced their disposition to study it. They also considered that
the challenge-exercises, in addition to motivate them, helped to develop their skills as engineers to a
greater extent than the skeleton-code based ones. These and other conclusions will be useful in
posterior courses to boost the interest and motivation of the students.Universidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks
In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge,
and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor
Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system
that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining
certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control,
learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and
WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new
opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields
which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be
the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path
between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the
advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of
articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a
range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant
to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core
problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity,
localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the
existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from
robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in
the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature,
and identify topics that require more research attention in the future
A robot swarm assisting a human fire-fighter
Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire-fighters. The large dimensions, together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The GUARDIANS robot swarm is designed to assist fire-fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting fire-fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms that provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus, the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire-fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire-fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm-based information to human beings
Spatial context-aware person-following for a domestic robot
Domestic robots are in the focus of research in
terms of service providers in households and even as robotic
companion that share the living space with humans. A major
capability of mobile domestic robots that is joint exploration
of space. One challenge to deal with this task is how could we
let the robots move in space in reasonable, socially acceptable
ways so that it will support interaction and communication
as a part of the joint exploration. As a step towards this
challenge, we have developed a context-aware following behav-
ior considering these social aspects and applied these together
with a multi-modal person-tracking method to switch between
three basic following approaches, namely direction-following,
path-following and parallel-following. These are derived from
the observation of human-human following schemes and are
activated depending on the current spatial context (e.g. free
space) and the relative position of the interacting human.
A combination of the elementary behaviors is performed in
real time with our mobile robot in different environments.
First experimental results are provided to demonstrate the
practicability of the proposed approach
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
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