GPU Computing for Cognitive Robotics

This thesis presents the first investigation of the impact of GPU computing on cognitive robotics by providing a series of novel experiments in the area of action and language acquisition in humanoid robots and computer vision. Cognitive robotics is concerned with endowing robots with high-level cognitive capabilities to enable the achievement of complex goals in complex environments. Reaching the ultimate goal of developing cognitive robots will require tremendous amounts of computational power, which was until recently provided mostly by standard CPU processors. CPU cores are optimised for serial code execution at the expense of parallel execution, which renders them relatively inefficient when it comes to high-performance computing applications. The ever-increasing market demand for high-performance, real-time 3D graphics has evolved the GPU into a highly parallel, multithreaded, many-core processor extraordinary computational power and very high memory bandwidth. These vast computational resources of modern GPUs can now be used by the most of the cognitive robotics models as they tend to be inherently parallel. Various interesting and insightful cognitive models were developed and addressed important scientific questions concerning action-language acquisition and computer vision. While they have provided us with important scientific insights, their complexity and application has not improved much over the last years. The experimental tasks as well as the scale of these models are often minimised to avoid excessive training times that grow exponentially with the number of neurons and the training data. This impedes further progress and development of complex neurocontrollers that would be able to take the cognitive robotics research a step closer to reaching the ultimate goal of creating intelligent machines. This thesis presents several cases where the application of the GPU computing on cognitive robotics algorithms resulted in the development of large-scale neurocontrollers of previously unseen complexity enabling the conducting of the novel experiments described herein.European Commission Seventh Framework Programm

Playful mapping in the digital age:The Playful Mapping Collective

From Mah-Jong, to the introduction of Prussian war-games, through to the emergence of location-based play: maps and play share a long and diverse history. This monograph shows how mapping and playing unfold in the digital age, when the relations between these apparently separate tropes are increasingly woven together. Fluid networks of interaction have encouraged a proliferation of hybrid forms of mapping and playing and a rich plethora of contemporary case-studies, ranging from fieldwork, golf, activism and automotive navigation, to pervasive and desktop-based games evidences this trend. Examining these cases shows how mapping and playing can form productive synergies, but also encourages new ways of being, knowing and shaping our everyday lives. The chapters in this book explore how play can be more than just an object or practice, and instead focus on its potential as a method for understanding maps and spatiality. They show how playing and mapping can be liberating, dangerous, subversive and performative

Dispositivos Móviles como Guías 3D para el Conocimiento del Patrimonio Arqueológico

[ES] Este trabajo describe una arquitectura cliente servidor que permite mostrar una representación 3D realista del terreno que rodea físicamente al usuario en dispositivos móviles. Sobre esta representación se superpone información georreferenciada de carácter cultural y arqueológico. Aplicando esta arquitectura, hemosconstruido una guía ubicua que permite divulgar y profundizar en el estudio de la organización territorial y las edificaciones defensivas existentes en el “Concejo de Baeza” (España) durante la baja Edad Media. Si bien, la aplicación fácilmente se podría extrapolar a otros periodos y áreas geográficas.[EN] This paper describes a client-server framework that provides users with a realistic 3D representation of the terrain around them on mobile devices. This representation is populated with georeferenced cultural and historic entities. By using this framework, we have built an ubiquitous guide that facilitates the promotion and knowledge of the territorial organization and defensive buildings during the low Middle Ages in the “Council of Baeza”, Spain. However, the proposed tool can be easily expanded to cover any geographic area and historic age.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia del Reino de España y por la Unión Europea (fondos FEDER) mediante el proyecto de investigación TIN2007-67474-C03-03, y por la Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía y la Unión Europea (fondos FEDER) mediante los proyectos de investigación P06-TIC-01403 y P07-TIC-02773.Noguera, JM.; Segura Sánchez, RJ.; Ogáyar Anguita, CJ. (2012). Dispositivos Móviles como Guías 3D para el Conocimiento del Patrimonio Arqueológico. Virtual Archaeology Review. 3(6):24-28. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2012.4423OJS242836CAPIN, T. et al. (2008): "The state of the art in mobile graphics research", en: Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE 28 (4) pp. 74-84. doi:10.1109/MCG.2008.83.CASTILLO, J. C. et al. (2010): "El control del Territorio en la Comunidad de Villa y Tierra de Baeza. (Jaén). Apuntes desde la Arqueología Espacial", en: Resumen del II Simposio Internacional sobre Castelos, fortificaçones e territorio na Península Ibérica e no Magreb. Óbidos (Portugal).NOGUERA, J. M. et al. (2010): "Navigating large terrains using commodity mobile devices", en Computers & Geosciences (aceptado, pendiente de publicación). doi:DOI:10.1016/j.cageo.2010.08.007.NURMINEN, A. et al. (2008): "Designing interactions for navigation in 3D mobile maps", en: Map-based Mobile Services, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008, pp. 198-227.PAJAROLA, R. (1998): "Large scale terrain visualization using the restricted quadtree triangulation", en: VIS '98: Proceedings of the conference on Visualization '98, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 1998, pp. 19-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/visual.1998.745280SAMET, H. (1984): "The quadtree and related hierarchical data structures", en ACM Computing Surveys 16 (2), pp 187-260. doi:http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/356924.356930

Real-Time Terrain Storage Generation from Multiple Sensors towards Mobile Robot Operation Interface

A mobile robot mounted with multiple sensors is used to rapidly collect 3D point clouds and video images so as to allow accurate terrain modeling. In this study, we develop a real-time terrain storage generation and representation system including a nonground point database (PDB), ground mesh database (MDB), and texture database (TDB). A voxel-based flag map is proposed for incrementally registering large-scale point clouds in a terrain model in real time. We quantize the 3D point clouds into 3D grids of the flag map as a comparative table in order to remove the redundant points. We integrate the large-scale 3D point clouds into a nonground PDB and a node-based terrain mesh using the CPU. Subsequently, we program a graphics processing unit (GPU) to generate the TDB by mapping the triangles in the terrain mesh onto the captured video images. Finally, we produce a nonground voxel map and a ground textured mesh as a terrain reconstruction result. Our proposed methods were tested in an outdoor environment. Our results show that the proposed system was able to rapidly generate terrain storage and provide high resolution terrain representation for mobile mapping services and a graphical user interface between remote operators and mobile robots

A Hybrid client-server based technique for navigation in large terrains using mobile devices

We describe a hybrid client-server technique for remote adaptive streaming and rendering of large terrains in resource-limited mobile devices. The technique has been designed to achieve an interactive rendering performance on a mobile device connected to a low-bandwidth wireless network. The rendering workload is split between the client and the server. The terrain area close to the viewer is rendered in real-time by the client using a hierarchical multiresolution scheme. The terrain located far from the viewer is portrayed as view-dependent impostors, rendered by the server on demand and, then sent to the client. The hybrid technique provides tools to dynamically balance the rendering workload according to the resources available at the client side and to the saturation of the network and server. A prototype has been built and an exhaustive set of experiments covering several platforms, wireless networks and a wide range of viewer velocities has been conducted. Results show that the approach is feasible, effective and robust.Postprint (published version

Arqueología Virtual en Dispositivos Móviles. Un Caso Práctico: Patrimonio Defensivo Medieval

[ES] La arqueología virtual es un interesante canal de promoción del patrimonio con fines turísticos. En este trabajo proponemos aplicar técnicas de realidad virtual en dispositivos móviles a fin de aprovechar las ventajas únicas que brindan dichas plataformas: ubiquidad y localización. Primeramente, describimos una arquitectura cliente-servidor capaz de proporcionar mapas 3D realistas en dispositivos móviles en función de la localización del usuario. A continuación, describimos un caso de estudio que consiste en aplicar dicha arquitectura para implementar una guía turística en 3D. El objetivo de esta guía es divulgar y promocionar la organización territorial y las edificaciones defensivas existentes en el “Concejo de Baeza” (España) durante la baja Edad Media. Si bien, la guía se puede extrapolar fácilmente a otros periodos y áreas geográficas.[EN] Virtual archaeology is an interesting way to promote cultural heritage with touristic purposes. This paper proposes to apply virtual reality techniques on mobile devices in order to exploit the unique features provided by these devices: ubiquity and location-awareness. Firstly, we propose a client-server framework that provides realistic 3D maps on mobile devices according to the user’s location. Following, we describe a study case that applies this technology to implement a 3D touristic guide. This guide aims at promoting the territorial organization and defensive buildings during the low Middle Ages in the “Council of Baeza”, Spain. However, the proposed guide can be easily expanded to cover any geographic area and historic age.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por la Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía y la Unión Europea (fondos FEDER) mediante el proyecto de investigación P07-TIC-02773.Noguera, JM.; Gutiérrez, MV.; Castillo, JC.; Segura Sánchez, RJ. (2012). Arqueología Virtual en Dispositivos Móviles. Un Caso Práctico: Patrimonio Defensivo Medieval. Virtual Archaeology Review. 3(7):109-115. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2012.4403OJS10911537BAEZA, U. (2011): "Realidad Virtual para la dinamización de entornos rurales. Un caso práctico: Red Parque Cultural", en Virtual Archaeology Review, Volumen 2, Número 3, Abril 2011, pp. 105-108.CAPIN, T., PULLI, K., AKENINE-MÖLLER, T. (2008): "The state of the art in mobile graphics research", en IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 28 (4) pp. 74-84. doi:10.1109/MCG.2008.83.CASTILLO ARMENTEROS, JC; GUTIÉRREZ CALDERÓN, MV. (2010): "El Control del Territorio en la Comunidad de Villa y Tierra de Baeza (Jaén). Apuntes desde la Arqueología Espacial", en II Simposio Internacional sobre Castelos. Fortificaçoes e territorio na península Iberica e no Magreb. Séculos VI-XVI. Óbidos (Portugal), 2010.GARCÍA FITZ, F. (2008): Las Navas de Tolosa. Editorial Ariel.GUTIÉRREZ CALDERÓN, MV; CASTILLO ARMENTEROS, JC. (2011): "Los sistemas de Información Geográfica como herramienta arqueológica: La aplicación en el Concejo de Villa y Tierra de Baeza en la Baja Edad Media", en I Congreso Internacional "El patrimonio Cultural y Natural como motor de desarrollo: investigación e innovación". Jaén, 2011.INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (2011): "Measuring the Information Society". ISBN 92-61-13801-2. Disponible en World Wide Web: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/index.html [último acceso: 17-Mayo-2012].JUNTA DE ANDALUCÍA (2005): "Modelo Digital del Terreno de Andalucía: Relieve y Orografía a resolución 10 m". Consejería de Obras Públicas y Transportes, Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca, Consejería de Medio Ambiente. DVD.NOGUERA, J.M., SEGURA, R.J., OGÁYAR, C.J., JOAN-ARINYO, R. (2011): "Navigating large terrains using commodity mobile devices", en Computers & Geosciences , Volume 37, Issue 9, September 2011, pp. 1218-1233. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2010.08.007.NURMINEN, A. et al. (2008): "Designing interactions for navigation in 3D mobile maps", en Map-based Mobile Services, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008, pp. 198-227.PAJAROLA, R. (1998): "Large scale terrain visualization using the restricted quadtree triangulation", en VIS '98: Proceedings of the conference on Visualization '98, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 1998, pp. 19-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/visual.1998.745280RODRIGUEZ MOLINA, J. (1978): El reino de Jaén, en la Baja Edad Media. Aspectos demográficos y económicos. Editorial Universidad de Granada.SAMET, H. (1984): "The quadtree and related hierarchical data structures", en ACM Computing Surveys 16 (2), pp 187-260. doi:http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/356924.356930

The Nature of Wayfinding in the City: Waikiki

The focus of this study on the nature of wayfinding may reveal multiple unknown points in the terrain one traverses. This thesis entails a quasi-objective approach that enables a creative way of analyzing, synthesizing, and discovering these points of unknown desire and destination. For example, surveying the tourists and travelers to Waikiki may reveal the multiplicity of points that embed themselves in the urban landscape. Yet, these spatial points reveal themselves through the act of traversing, finding, discovering, and encountering along the way. In addition, the study reveals the spatial matrix in which points of desire and destination manifest for the visitor, a multiplicity of points with instances of departure and arrival. The visitor demographic can be a “lens” from which to understand how one uses wayfinding tools and finds their points of desire in the terrain. For instance, how do we as tourists and travelers find our way? Also, how do we traverse toward a given destination? Indeed, most travelers and tourists are using visual, auditory, and tactile cues to find their way. Yet, do these spatial signifiers of meaning help them find their destination or are they getting them lost? Focusing on Waikiki as a destination and site for this study will give insight into the phenomena of wayfinding, which influences the perception of the user while traversing a given terrain within a spatial matrix of desire. methodology The strategies and tactics that I will employ will be a combination of empirical and quasi-objective approaches, such as collecting evidence, taking photos, surveying tourists and travelers, and creating experiential maps from the site. This is my way of studying wayfinding, from the 6 evidence collected (brochures, maps, ephemeral artifacts) how does one find their point of desire in waikiki? what are the instruments of finding destinations in waikiki? what are the modes of traversing waikiki’s terrain? interpretive mappings and site photography surveying tourists and tourist mappings 1 2 3 triangulation empirical study (Experiential + interpretive) GRAPHIC A: TRIANGULATION OF COLLECTED EVIDENCE A I ABSTRACT 7 totally rigorous and scientific, to the subjective of scope. This will attempt to synthesize an understanding of how one wayfinds in urban environments with multiple points of destination. For example, in figure A, this method entails triangulating the surveys of the travelers and tourists, collecting evidence, such as maps and brochures, and creating interpretive mappings of Waikiki, to reveal and represent the spatial matrix of points as it relates to wayfinding. These tactics will help create experiential mappings, which can uncover information about the terrain of Waikiki that is unknown to travelers and tourists, advancing the notion that the urban terrain is multiple in response to the user’s ability to traverse, find, and encounter spatial points of desire and destination. goals One of the goals of this study will be to understand how one finds their way in dense urban environments, such as cities by using a variety of visual, tactile, and auditory signs. These signs come from the built and natural landscape as well as digital mobile devices of wayfinding. Yet, another goal would be to investigate the spatial matrix that embeds points of destination and desire for the visitors to experience and discover. For example, Waikiki is a destination for many travelers and tourists, thus manifesting points of desire, which are explicit, implicit, impulsive, and interstitial. The visitors traverse a spatial matrix of points, which is multiple and forms a network of pathways and nodal interactions. Indeed, maps and brochures afford the traveler and tourist the ability to traverse the terrain and find their destination or point of desire. Thus, allowing for spontaneity and discovery to manifest within the terrain, where one traverses and encounters spatial points, along the way, creating meaningful instances in space and time. theory These dense urban terrains create a need for wayfinding to occur because they contain spatial matrices of destination and desire. A complex system of built form and semantics is embedded in the DNA of the urban plan. Most urban spaces interconnect to each other and weave a network of circulation towards multiple points of desire. Each point can inform the experience and memory of the traveler or tourist while traversing, which influences how they map and perceive their terrain. This densification of the urban environment curtails users perception while traversing the terrain at different velocities, influencing the way these points of destination are found, made, and forgotten. Moreover, these systems of human movement along pedestrian and vehicular pathways, in the urban framework, create multiple spatial matrices of desirable points that layer within trajectories in the terrain

Arts of urban exploration

This paper addresses ways in which artists and cultural practitioners have recently been using forms of urban exploration as a means of engaging with, and intervening in, cities. It takes its cues from recent events on the streets of New York that involved exploring urban spaces through artistic practices. Walks, games, investigations and mappings are discussed as manifestations of a form of ‘psychogeography’, and are set in the context of recent increasing international interest in practices associated with this term, following its earlier use by the situationists. The paper argues that experimental modes of exploration can play a vital role in the development of critical approaches to the cultural geographies of cities. In particular, discussion centres on the political significance of these spatial practices, drawing out what they have to say about two interconnected themes: ‘rights to the city’ and ‘writing the city’. Through addressing recent cases of psychogeographical experimentation in terms of these themes, the paper raises broad questions about artistic practices and urban exploration to introduce this theme issue on ‘Arts of urban exploration’ and to lead into the specific discussions in the papers that follow