A practical multirobot localization system

We present a fast and precise vision-based software intended for multiple robot localization. The core component of the software is a novel and efficient algorithm for black and white pattern detection. The method is robust to variable lighting conditions, achieves sub-pixel precision and its computational complexity is independent of the processed image size. With off-the-shelf computational equipment and low-cost cameras, the core algorithm is able to process hundreds of images per second while tracking hundreds of objects with a millimeter precision. In addition, we present the method's mathematical model, which allows to estimate the expected localization precision, area of coverage, and processing speed from the camera's intrinsic parameters and hardware's processing capacity. The correctness of the presented model and performance of the algorithm in real-world conditions is verified in several experiments. Apart from the method description, we also make its source code public at \emph{http://purl.org/robotics/whycon}; so, it can be used as an enabling technology for various mobile robotic problems

The robot programming network

The Robot Programming Network (RPN) is an initiative for creating a network of robotics education laboratories with remote programming capabilities. It consists of both online open course materials and online servers that are ready to execute and test the programs written by remote students. Online materials include introductory course modules on robot programming, mobile robotics and humanoids, aimed to learn from basic concepts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to more advanced programming skills. The students have access to the online server hosts, where they submit and run their programming code on the fly. The hosts run a variety of robot simulation environments, and access to real robots can also be granted, upon successful achievement of the course modules. The learning materials provide step-by-step guidance for solving problems with increasing level of dif- ficulty. Skill tests and challenges are given for checking the success, and online competitions are scheduled for additional motivation and fun. Use of standard robotics middleware (ROS) allows the system to be extended to a large number of robot platforms, and connected to other existing tele-laboratories for building a large social network for online teaching of robotics.Support of IEEE RAS through the CEMRA program (Creation of Educational Material for Robotics and Automation) is gratefully acknowledged. This paper describes research done at the Robotic Intelligence Laboratory. Support for this laboratory is provided in part by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (DPI2011-27846), by Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/028) and by Universitat Jaume I (P1-1B2011-54)

An application programming interface for the MORSE simulator

Práce představuje CCMorse, což je knihovna pro komunikaci se simulátorem, kterou jsem vytvořil. Práce dále popisuje proces vývoje simulačního pro simulátor MORSE. Teze probírá nejprve teorii robotických middleware a robotických simulátorů. Dále obsahuje stručné popisy různých simulátorů, které jsou potom porovnány za účelem simulování mobilních robotů, následované popisem knihovny CCMorse umožňující uživateli psát klientskou applikaci v jazyce C++ za použití rozhraní Player a spustit jí v simulátoru MORSE. Ke konci text popisuje začlenění simulátoru do existujícího systému, ilustruje proces vytvoření simulované reprezentace systému a ukazuje praktické použití knihovny v kurzu zaměřeném na mobilní robotiku. Knihovna CCMorse může být díky své vícevrstvé struktuře použita i k implementaci jiného rozhraní než Player rozhraní a také může být upravena pro podporu dalšího simulátoru mimo MORSE.Thesis presents the CCMorse, a simulator communication library, that I have created. The thesis also describes the development process of a MORSE simulation environment. The thesis discusses the theory of robotic middlewares and robotic simulators first. It contains a brief introduction to various simulators which are compared for the purposes of simulating mobile robots, followed by a description the CCMorse library that enables the user to write a client application in the C++ language using the Player interface and run it in the MORSE simulator. At the end, thesis illustrates incorporation of a simulator into the existing system, it illustrates the creation process of the simulated representation of the system and it shows the practical usage of the library in an introductory course to mobile robotics. CCMorse can be utilized to implement another API on top of the Player and it can be also altered to support another simulator besides MORSE, thanks to its layered structure

A Collaborative Authoring Workspace and Script-Based Control Platform for Heterogeneous Robots

A collaborative script authoring and control platform for multiple heterogeneous robots is developed. The developed platform consists of a remote sever providing a graphic user interface (GUI) authoring tool, and a local control platform controlling a group of heterogeneous robots by interpreting the designated scripts. Designed to encourage impromptu creativity among programming students in class, this Web-based authoring tool fosters collaborative creativity in the authorship of command scripts. The architecture of the local controller is composed of an embedded system for controlling the movement of robotic puppets, and a management server for the synchronization of live shows. Post-activity assessment indicates that the proposed platform provides strong support and encouragement for interactive robot learning in curriculum training and evaluation

Lifelong information-driven exploration for mobile robots to complete and Refine spatio-temporal maps in changing environments

Recent improvements in the ability of mobile robots to operate safely in human populated environments have allowed their deployment in households, offices and public buildings, such as museums and hospitals. However, the structure of these environments is typically not known a priori, which requires the robots to build their own models of their operational environments. This process is commonly known as "exploration" in mobile robotics. Moreover, real-world environments tend to change over time, which means that to achieve long-term autonomous operation, robots must also update their environment models as a part of their daily routine. The assumption of a perpetually-changing world adds a temporal dimension to the exploration problem, making exploration a never-ending lifelong learning process. To the best of our knowledge, this process termed "lifelong exploration" has never been studied in detail before and forms the main topic of the work presented in this thesis. Effcient lifelong exploration requires a robot to choose the right locations and times at which to collect observations in order to improve its environment model. To evaluate the ability of a robot to build and maintain its environment models, we need to be able to compare lifelong exploration strategies under repeatable experimental conditions. An evaluation methodology based on pre-recorded sensory datasets would not be suitable for this purpose, as this would not allow the robot to choose the location or time of its observations. Evaluating lifelong exploration requires the deterministic reproduction of environment changes, while preserving the robots ability to decide upon its own actions during the experiment. This thesis therefore contributes a new benchmarking methodology for lifelong exploration, which replicates the events occurring in real environments through physical simulations that reflect the environment changes gathered by ambient sensors over long periods of time. The established experimental benchmarks are based on long-term sensory datasets recorded in a smart home, with dynamics produced by a single person over a period of one year, and an office environment, with dynamics produced by a team of workers. Building upon the aforementioned benchmarking methodology, the thesis investigates possible strategies for lifelong exploration. An experimental comparison of lifelong exploration strategies that combine various decision-making paradigms and spatio-temporal representations is presented. Moreover, a new approach to lifelong explorations is proposed that applies information-theoretic exploration techniques to environment representations that model the uncertainty of world states as probabilistic functions of time. The proposed method explicitly models the world dynamics and can predict the environment changes. The predictive ability is used to reason about the most informative locations to explore for a given time. A 16 week long experiment shows that the combination of dynamic environment representations with information-gain exploration principles allows to create and maintain up-to-date models of continuously changing environments, enabling efficient and self-improving long-term operation of mobile service robots. The final part of the thesis considers the problem of acquiring and maintaining dense 3D models of dynamic environments during long-term operation, building on the work presented in the earlier chapters. The term "4D mapping" is used to indicate 3D mapping by mobile robots over extended periods of time. A new approach to lifelong 4D mapping and exploration is presented, which was deployed on a real robotic platform during long term operation in real-world human-populated environments. The approach integrates sensory data captured by the robot at different times and locations into a global, metric I 4D spatio-temporal model and then uses the model to decide where and when to perform the next round of observations. Finally, the deployment of the 4D exploration method in a real-world office scenario is described and evaluated. The one week long experiments show that the method enables reliable 4D mapping and persistent self-localisation of autonomous mobile robots, continually improving the robots maps to reflect the ever-changing world

Heterogeneous computing systems for vision-based multi-robot tracking

Irwansyah A. Heterogeneous computing systems for vision-based multi-robot tracking. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2017

Evaluating Intention to Use Remote Robotics Experimentation in Programming Courses

The Digital Agenda for Europe (2015) states that there will be 825,000 unfilled vacancies for Information and Communications Technology by 2020. This lack of IT professionals stems from the small number of students graduating in computer science. To retain more students in the field, teachers can use remote robotic experiments to explain difficult concepts. This correlational study used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to examine if performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions can predict the intention of high school computer science teachers in Cyprus, to use remote robotic experiments in their classes. Surveys, based on the UTAUT survey instrument, were collected from 90 high school computer science teachers in Cyprus, and a multiple regression analysis was used to measure the correlations between the constructs and finally the model fit of the analysis. The model was able to predict approximately 35% of the variation of the teachers\u27 intent to use remote robotic experiments. The biggest predictor was facilitating conditions followed by effort expectancy. Performance expectancy had little impact, whereas social influence had no impact on the intention of high school teachers to use remote robotic experiments in their classes. These results can help curriculum decision makers in the Ministry of Education in Cyprus to examine what factors affect the acceptance of remote robotic experiments and develop them in ways that would increase their implementation in high schools. By incorporating remote robotic experiments in high schools, students may learn difficult concepts, leading to an increase in computer science graduates and ultimately an increase in IT professionals

Towards an integrated instructional model for the design of common learning resources in engineering education for academia and industry

Este proyecto de investigación tiene como objetivo estudiar los métodos de diseño de materiales educativos para la concepción de recursos digitales de aprendizaje que podrían apoyar el aprendizaje combinado tanto en el mundo académico como en la industria. Dichos materiales y la práctica de diseño asociada deberían ayudar a solventar la necesidad de soluciones asequibles durante una crisis económica, la necesidad de que el conocimiento circule entre el mundo académico, los investigadores y la industria para innovar y crecer económicamente, y la necesidad de desarrollar habilidades profesionales para una gestión satisfactoria de la Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE). Usando el modelo de la Investigación Basada en el Diseño (IBD) se realizó un módulo de aprendizaje electrónico sobre Geoestadística, en entornos reales y en colaboración con instructores de la industria y profesores de la universidad. El módulo, un tutorial que el estudiante sigue a su ritmo en línea, está pensado para ser completado por los aprendices antes de una clase tradicional en la universidad o antes de la formación en la empresa. El estudio se hace sobre doce cursos combinados: siete en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES), cuatro de formación empresarial interna y uno de formación impartido en un instituto de investigación. En total, el estudio completo incluye 182 aprendices, de los cuales 151 son estudiantes y 31 empleados. Doce profesionales participaron en la investigación, lo que representa 150 años de experiencia profesional acumulados y 73 de docencia en Geoestadística. La investigación se ha realizado sobre muestras pequeñas y útiles. Para el estudio se dispuso de datos cuantitativos y cualitativos que fueron recogidos mediante cuestionarios, entrevistas semiestructuradas y el sistema que se usaba en línea para seguir las interacciones de los usuarios con el tutorial. Decidimos realizar un Análisis Factorial Exploratorio (AFE) para comprender mejor la estructura de los datos disponibles en el contexto de este estudio. Se hicieron pruebas de comparación adicionales entre las medias de las puntuaciones de tres factores principales para las dos poblaciones en universidad y empresa. Los empleados puntúan alto en el tercer constructo llamado “persistencia en el tiempo”, que se relaciona con el tiempo y la dedicación a aprender. A partir de los resultados de la investigación, un modelo para la formación combinada en la educación de ingenieros fue elaborado, el cual incluye factores individuales, contextuales y relacionados con la información. Este modelo es útil para hacer un juicio sobre el potencial de la Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE) en la educación y la formación. Dicha colaboración se considera necesaria en el diseño de lo que se denomina en el presente documento situaciones de “contextualización” donde el alumno es retado y necesita enfrentar un problema. Para futuras investigaciones sobre Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE) en la formación de ingenieros, se propone investigar la relación entre la naturaleza del conocimiento y los sistemas de enseñanza en el mundo académico y la industria. De hecho, esta investigación abre nuevas preguntas sobre el impacto de la naturaleza de la información sobre la disposición de la enseñanza. Proponemos profundizar las circunstancias, las formas, las ventajas e inconvenientes de hacer que el conocimiento tácito se convierta en información declarativa y formal en la universidad y en la empresa

Hacia un modelo instruccional integrado para el diseño de recursos de aprendizaje comunes en la educación en ingeniería para la academia y la industria

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Educación, Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, leída el 12-01-2017Este proyecto de investigación tiene como objetivo estudiar los métodos de diseño de materiales educativos para la concepción de recursos digitales de aprendizaje que podrían apoyar el aprendizaje combinado tanto en el mundo académico como en la industria. Dichos materiales y la práctica de diseño asociada deberían ayudar a solventar la necesidad de soluciones asequibles durante una crisis económica, la necesidad de que el conocimiento circule entre el mundo académico, los investigadores y la industria para innovar y crecer económicamente, y la necesidad de desarrollar habilidades profesionales para una gestión satisfactoria de la Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE). Usando el modelo de la Investigación Basada en el Diseño (IBD) se realizó un módulo de aprendizaje electrónico sobre Geoestadística, en entornos reales y en colaboración con instructores de la industria y profesores de la universidad. El módulo, un tutorial que el estudiante sigue a su ritmo en línea, está pensado para ser completado por los aprendices antes de una clase tradicional en la universidad o antes de la formación en la empresa. El estudio se hace sobre doce cursos combinados: siete en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES), cuatro de formación empresarial interna y uno de formación impartido en un instituto de investigación. En total, el estudio completo incluye 182 aprendices, de los cuales 151 son estudiantes y 31 empleados. Doce profesionales participaron en la investigación, lo que representa 150 años de experiencia profesional acumulados y 73 de docencia en Geoestadística. La investigación se ha realizado sobre muestras pequeñas y útiles. Para el estudio se dispuso de datos cuantitativos y cualitativos que fueron recogidos mediante cuestionarios, entrevistas semiestructuradas y el sistema que se usaba en línea para seguir las interacciones de los usuarios con el tutorial. Decidimos realizar un Análisis Factorial Exploratorio (AFE) para comprender mejor la estructura de los datos disponibles en el contexto de este estudio. Se hicieron pruebas de comparación adicionales entre las medias de las puntuaciones de tres factores principales para las dos poblaciones en universidad y empresa. Los empleados puntúan alto en el tercer constructo llamado “persistencia en el tiempo”, que se relaciona con el tiempo y la dedicación a aprender. A partir de los resultados de la investigación, un modelo para la formación combinada en la educación de ingenieros fue elaborado, el cual incluye factores individuales, contextuales y relacionados con la información. Este modelo es útil para hacer un juicio sobre el potencial de la Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE) en la educación y la formación. Dicha colaboración se considera necesaria en el diseño de lo que se denomina en el presente documento situaciones de “contextualización” donde el alumno es retado y necesita enfrentar un problema. Para futuras investigaciones sobre Colaboración Universidad-Empresa (CUE) en la formación de ingenieros, se propone investigar la relación entre la naturaleza del conocimiento y los sistemas de enseñanza en el mundo académico y la industria. De hecho, esta investigación abre nuevas preguntas sobre el impacto de la naturaleza de la información sobre la disposición de la enseñanza. Proponemos profundizar las circunstancias, las formas, las ventajas e inconvenientes de hacer que el conocimiento tácito se convierta en información declarativa y formal en la universidad y en la empresa.In knowledge societies, University-Business Collaboration (UBC) in Engineering and Design are seen as a prevalent contributor for the provision of high quality education and qualifications, for the generation of innovation and economic growth. 1.1. Engineering Education In the Encyclopedia Britannica (2016), engineering is defined as “the application of science to the optimum conversion of the resources of nature to the uses of humankind”. In a global and knowledge-driven economy, it is considered that the transformation of knowledge into products, processes, and services is critical to competitiveness, long-term productivity growth, and the generation of wealth (Duderstadt, 2010). In the late 1960s, new types of university and higher professional institutions emerged in Europe and included profession-oriented curricula to address the needs of the local industry (Christensen & Newberry, 2015; Collis & Strijker, 2004; Jonassen, 1999). The analysis of the three components of the didactic triangle, namely the teacher, the learner and the content, allows to draw a comparison of practices in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and corporations. First, students and employees have different and similar dispositions for learning depending on their experience. Whereas mature learners are self-driven and are aware of their learning style, prior knowledge might make new learning more difficult to happen (Knowles et al., 2012). For both populations, teaching should be of sufficient intellectual challenge to motivate the learner (Heywood, 2005; Mayer, 2009) and authentic learning seems to be beneficial for learning to happen (Aubrun & Colin, 2015; Heywood, 2005; Knowles et al., 2012). Considering teaching and the instructional resources used at HEIs, the practice depends on the kind of embedding context at university...Depto. de Estudios EducativosFac. de EducaciónTRUEunpu