13,314 research outputs found
Two-Stage Transfer Learning for Heterogeneous Robot Detection and 3D Joint Position Estimation in a 2D Camera Image using CNN
Collaborative robots are becoming more common on factory floors as well as
regular environments, however, their safety still is not a fully solved issue.
Collision detection does not always perform as expected and collision avoidance
is still an active research area. Collision avoidance works well for fixed
robot-camera setups, however, if they are shifted around, Eye-to-Hand
calibration becomes invalid making it difficult to accurately run many of the
existing collision avoidance algorithms. We approach the problem by presenting
a stand-alone system capable of detecting the robot and estimating its
position, including individual joints, by using a simple 2D colour image as an
input, where no Eye-to-Hand calibration is needed. As an extension of previous
work, a two-stage transfer learning approach is used to re-train a
multi-objective convolutional neural network (CNN) to allow it to be used with
heterogeneous robot arms. Our method is capable of detecting the robot in
real-time and new robot types can be added by having significantly smaller
training datasets compared to the requirements of a fully trained network. We
present data collection approach, the structure of the multi-objective CNN, the
two-stage transfer learning training and test results by using real robots from
Universal Robots, Kuka, and Franka Emika. Eventually, we analyse possible
application areas of our method together with the possible improvements.Comment: 6+n pages, ICRA 2019 submissio
Human-Machine Interface for Remote Training of Robot Tasks
Regardless of their industrial or research application, the streamlining of
robot operations is limited by the proximity of experienced users to the actual
hardware. Be it massive open online robotics courses, crowd-sourcing of robot
task training, or remote research on massive robot farms for machine learning,
the need to create an apt remote Human-Machine Interface is quite prevalent.
The paper at hand proposes a novel solution to the programming/training of
remote robots employing an intuitive and accurate user-interface which offers
all the benefits of working with real robots without imposing delays and
inefficiency. The system includes: a vision-based 3D hand detection and gesture
recognition subsystem, a simulated digital twin of a robot as visual feedback,
and the "remote" robot learning/executing trajectories using dynamic motion
primitives. Our results indicate that the system is a promising solution to the
problem of remote training of robot tasks.Comment: Accepted in IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and
Techniques - IST201
A Factor Graph Approach to Multi-Camera Extrinsic Calibration on Legged Robots
Legged robots are becoming popular not only in research, but also in
industry, where they can demonstrate their superiority over wheeled machines in
a variety of applications. Either when acting as mobile manipulators or just as
all-terrain ground vehicles, these machines need to precisely track the desired
base and end-effector trajectories, perform Simultaneous Localization and
Mapping (SLAM), and move in challenging environments, all while keeping
balance. A crucial aspect for these tasks is that all onboard sensors must be
properly calibrated and synchronized to provide consistent signals for all the
software modules they feed. In this paper, we focus on the problem of
calibrating the relative pose between a set of cameras and the base link of a
quadruped robot. This pose is fundamental to successfully perform sensor
fusion, state estimation, mapping, and any other task requiring visual
feedback. To solve this problem, we propose an approach based on factor graphs
that jointly optimizes the mutual position of the cameras and the robot base
using kinematics and fiducial markers. We also quantitatively compare its
performance with other state-of-the-art methods on the hydraulic quadruped
robot HyQ. The proposed approach is simple, modular, and independent from
external devices other than the fiducial marker.Comment: To appear on "The Third IEEE International Conference on Robotic
Computing (IEEE IRC 2019)
Computer- and robot-assisted Medical Intervention
Medical robotics includes assistive devices used by the physician in order to
make his/her diagnostic or therapeutic practices easier and more efficient.
This chapter focuses on such systems. It introduces the general field of
Computer-Assisted Medical Interventions, its aims, its different components and
describes the place of robots in that context. The evolutions in terms of
general design and control paradigms in the development of medical robots are
presented and issues specific to that application domain are discussed. A view
of existing systems, on-going developments and future trends is given. A
case-study is detailed. Other types of robotic help in the medical environment
(such as for assisting a handicapped person, for rehabilitation of a patient or
for replacement of some damaged/suppressed limbs or organs) are out of the
scope of this chapter.Comment: Handbook of Automation, Shimon Nof (Ed.) (2009) 000-00
Efficiency Improvement of Measurement Pose Selection Techniques in Robot Calibration
The paper deals with the design of experiments for manipulator geometric and
elastostatic calibration based on the test-pose approach. The main attention is
paid to the efficiency improvement of numerical techniques employed in the
selection of optimal measurement poses for calibration experiments. The
advantages of the developed technique are illustrated by simulation examples
that deal with the geometric calibration of the industrial robot of serial
architecture
On the Calibration of Active Binocular and RGBD Vision Systems for Dual-Arm Robots
This paper describes a camera and hand-eye
calibration methodology for integrating an active binocular
robot head within a dual-arm robot. For this purpose, we
derive the forward kinematic model of our active robot head
and describe our methodology for calibrating and integrating
our robot head. This rigid calibration provides a closedform
hand-to-eye solution. We then present an approach for
updating dynamically camera external parameters for optimal
3D reconstruction that are the foundation for robotic tasks such
as grasping and manipulating rigid and deformable objects. We
show from experimental results that our robot head achieves
an overall sub millimetre accuracy of less than 0.3 millimetres
while recovering the 3D structure of a scene. In addition, we
report a comparative study between current RGBD cameras
and our active stereo head within two dual-arm robotic testbeds
that demonstrates the accuracy and portability of our proposed
methodology
Dynamic update of a virtual cell for programming and safe monitoring of an industrial robot
A hardware/software architecture for robot motion planning and on-line safe monitoring has been developed with the objective to assure high flexibility in production control, safety for workers and machinery, with user-friendly interface. The architecture, developed using Microsoft Robotics Developers Studio and implemented for a six-dof COMAU NS 12 robot, established a bidirectional communication between the robot controller and a virtual replica of the real robotic cell. The working space of the real robot can then be easily limited for safety reasons by inserting virtual objects (or sensors) in such a virtual environment. This paper investigates the possibility to achieve an automatic, dynamic update of the virtual cell by using a low cost depth sensor (i.e., a commercial Microsoft Kinect) to detect the presence of completely unknown objects, moving inside the real cell. The experimental tests show that the developed architecture is able to recognize variously shaped mobile objects inside the monitored area and let the robot stop before colliding with them, if the objects are not too small
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