24,230 research outputs found
Virtual reality training and assessment in laparoscopic rectum surgery
Background: Virtual-reality (VR) based simulation techniques offer an efficient and low cost alternative to conventional surgery training. This article describes a VR training and assessment system in laparoscopic rectum surgery. Methods: To give a realistic visual performance of interaction between membrane tissue and surgery tools, a generalized cylinder based collision detection and a multi-layer mass-spring model are presented. A dynamic assessment model is also designed for hierarchy training evaluation. Results: With this simulator, trainees can operate on the virtual rectum with both visual and haptic sensation feedback simultaneously. The system also offers surgeons instructions in real time when improper manipulation happens. The simulator has been tested and evaluated by ten subjects. Conclusions: This prototype system has been verified by colorectal surgeons through a pilot study. They believe the visual performance and the tactile feedback are realistic. It exhibits the potential to effectively improve the surgical skills of trainee surgeons and significantly shorten their learning curve. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Are object detection assessment criteria ready for maritime computer vision?
Maritime vessels equipped with visible and infrared cameras can complement
other conventional sensors for object detection. However, application of
computer vision techniques in maritime domain received attention only recently.
The maritime environment offers its own unique requirements and challenges.
Assessment of the quality of detections is a fundamental need in computer
vision. However, the conventional assessment metrics suitable for usual object
detection are deficient in the maritime setting. Thus, a large body of related
work in computer vision appears inapplicable to the maritime setting at the
first sight. We discuss the problem of defining assessment metrics suitable for
maritime computer vision. We consider new bottom edge proximity metrics as
assessment metrics for maritime computer vision. These metrics indicate that
existing computer vision approaches are indeed promising for maritime computer
vision and can play a foundational role in the emerging field of maritime
computer vision
Evaluation of estimation approaches on the quality and robustness of collision warning system
Vehicle safety is one of the most challenging aspect of future-generation
autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Collision warning systems (CCWs), as a
proposed solution framework, can be relied as the main structure to address the
issues in this area. In this framework, information plays a very important
role. Each vehicle has access to its own information immediately. However,
another vehicle information is available through a wireless communication. Data
loss is very common issue for such communication approach. As a consequence,
CCW would suffer from providing late or false detection awareness. Robust
estimation of lost data is of this paper interest which its goal is to
reconstruct or estimate lost network data from previous available or estimated
data as close to actual values as possible under different rate of lost. In
this paper, we will investigate and evaluate three different algorithms
including constant velocity, constant acceleration and Kalman estimator for
this purpose. We make a comparison between their performance which reveals the
ability of them in term of accuracy and robustness for estimation and
prediction based on previous samples which at the end affects the quality of
CCW in awareness generation
Human Motion Trajectory Prediction: A Survey
With growing numbers of intelligent autonomous systems in human environments,
the ability of such systems to perceive, understand and anticipate human
behavior becomes increasingly important. Specifically, predicting future
positions of dynamic agents and planning considering such predictions are key
tasks for self-driving vehicles, service robots and advanced surveillance
systems. This paper provides a survey of human motion trajectory prediction. We
review, analyze and structure a large selection of work from different
communities and propose a taxonomy that categorizes existing methods based on
the motion modeling approach and level of contextual information used. We
provide an overview of the existing datasets and performance metrics. We
discuss limitations of the state of the art and outline directions for further
research.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR),
37 page
Throughput and Collision Analysis of Multi-Channel Multi-Stage Spectrum Sensing Algorithms
Multi-stage sensing is a novel concept that refers to a general class of
spectrum sensing algorithms that divide the sensing process into a number of
sequential stages. The number of sensing stages and the sensing technique per
stage can be used to optimize performance with respect to secondary user
throughput and the collision probability between primary and secondary users.
So far, the impact of multi-stage sensing on network throughput and collision
probability for a realistic network model is relatively unexplored. Therefore,
we present the first analytical framework which enables performance evaluation
of different multi-channel multi-stage spectrum sensing algorithms for
Opportunistic Spectrum Access networks. The contribution of our work lies in
studying the effect of the following parameters on performance: number of
sensing stages, physical layer sensing techniques and durations per each stage,
single and parallel channel sensing and access, number of available channels,
primary and secondary user traffic, buffering of incoming secondary user
traffic, as well as MAC layer sensing algorithms. Analyzed performance metrics
include the average secondary user throughput and the average collision
probability between primary and secondary users. Our results show that when the
probability of primary user mis-detection is constrained, the performance of
multi-stage sensing is, in most cases, superior to the single stage sensing
counterpart. Besides, prolonged channel observation at the first stage of
sensing decreases the collision probability considerably, while keeping the
throughput at an acceptable level. Finally, in realistic primary user traffic
scenarios, using two stages of sensing provides a good balance between
secondary users throughput and collision probability while meeting successful
detection constraints subjected by Opportunistic Spectrum Access communication
Adaptive dynamic path re-planning RRT algorithms with game theory for UAVs
The main aim of this paper is to describe an adaptive re-planning algorithm based on a RRT and Game Theory to produce an efficient collision free obstacle adaptive Mission Path Planner for Search and Rescue (SAR) missions. This will provide UAV autopilots and flight computers with the capability to autonomously avoid static obstacles and No Fly Zones (NFZs) through dynamic adaptive path replanning. The methods and algorithms produce optimal collision free paths and can be integrated on a decision aid tool and UAV autopilots
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