1,924 research outputs found
Neural Potential Field for Obstacle-Aware Local Motion Planning
Model predictive control (MPC) may provide local motion planning for mobile
robotic platforms. The challenging aspect is the analytic representation of
collision cost for the case when both the obstacle map and robot footprint are
arbitrary. We propose a Neural Potential Field: a neural network model that
returns a differentiable collision cost based on robot pose, obstacle map, and
robot footprint. The differentiability of our model allows its usage within the
MPC solver. It is computationally hard to solve problems with a very high
number of parameters. Therefore, our architecture includes neural image
encoders, which transform obstacle maps and robot footprints into embeddings,
which reduce problem dimensionality by two orders of magnitude. The reference
data for network training are generated based on algorithmic calculation of a
signed distance function. Comparative experiments showed that the proposed
approach is comparable with existing local planners: it provides trajectories
with outperforming smoothness, comparable path length, and safe distance from
obstacles. Experiment on Husky UGV mobile robot showed that our approach allows
real-time and safe local planning. The code for our approach is presented at
https://github.com/cog-isa/NPField together with demo video
How much does a man cost? A dirty, dull, and dangerous application
Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This study illuminates the many abilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). One area of importance includes the UAV's capability to assist in the development, implementation, and execution of crisis management. This research focuses on UAV uses in pre and post crisis planning and accomplishments. The accompaniment of unmanned vehicles with base teams can make crisis management plans more reliable for the general public and teams faced with tasks such as search and rescue and firefighting. In the fight for mass acceptance of UAV integration, knowledge and attitude inventories were collected and analyzed. Methodology includes mixed method research collected by interviews and questionnaires available to experts and ground teams in the UAV fields, mining industry, firefighting and police force career field, and general city planning crisis management members. This information was compiled to assist professionals in creation of general guidelines and recommendations for how to utilize UAVs in crisis management planning and implementation as well as integration of UAVs into the educational system. The results from this study show the benefits and disadvantages of strategically giving UAVs a role in the construction and implementation of crisis management plans and other areas of interest. The results also show that the general public is lacking information and education on the abilities of UAVs. This education gap shows a correlation with negative attitudes towards UAVs. Educational programs to teach the public benefits of UAV integration should be implemented
Sampling-Based Motion Planning: A Comparative Review
Sampling-based motion planning is one of the fundamental paradigms to
generate robot motions, and a cornerstone of robotics research. This
comparative review provides an up-to-date guideline and reference manual for
the use of sampling-based motion planning algorithms. This includes a history
of motion planning, an overview about the most successful planners, and a
discussion on their properties. It is also shown how planners can handle
special cases and how extensions of motion planning can be accommodated. To put
sampling-based motion planning into a larger context, a discussion of
alternative motion generation frameworks is presented which highlights their
respective differences to sampling-based motion planning. Finally, a set of
sampling-based motion planners are compared on 24 challenging planning
problems. This evaluation gives insights into which planners perform well in
which situations and where future research would be required. This comparative
review thereby provides not only a useful reference manual for researchers in
the field, but also a guideline for practitioners to make informed algorithmic
decisions.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for Volume 7 (2024) of the Annual
Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous System
Motion Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Using Artificial Potential Fields: A Review
Autonomous ground vehicle systems have found extensive potential and
practical applications in the modern world. The development of an autonomous
ground vehicle poses a significant challenge, particularly in identifying the
best path plan, based on defined performance metrics such as safety margin,
shortest time, and energy consumption. Various techniques for motion planning
have been proposed by researchers, one of which is the use of artificial
potential fields. Several authors in the past two decades have proposed various
modified versions of the artificial potential field algorithms. The variations
of the traditional APF approach have given an answer to prior shortcomings.
This gives potential rise to a strategic survey on the improved versions of
this algorithm. This study presents a review of motion planning for autonomous
ground vehicles using artificial potential fields. Each article is evaluated
based on criteria that involve the environment type, which may be either static
or dynamic, the evaluation scenario, which may be real-time or simulated, and
the method used for improving the search performance of the algorithm. All the
customized designs of planning models are analyzed and evaluated. At the end,
the results of the review are discussed, and future works are proposed
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
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
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