Vision-Based Localization Algorithm Based on Landmark Matching, Triangulation, Reconstruction, and Comparison

Many generic position-estimation algorithms are vulnerable to ambiguity introduced by nonunique landmarks. Also, the available high-dimensional image data is not fully used when these techniques are extended to vision-based localization. This paper presents the landmark matching, triangulation, reconstruction, and comparison (LTRC) global localization algorithm, which is reasonably immune to ambiguous landmark matches. It extracts natural landmarks for the (rough) matching stage before generating the list of possible position estimates through triangulation. Reconstruction and comparison then rank the possible estimates. The LTRC algorithm has been implemented using an interpreted language, onto a robot equipped with a panoramic vision system. Empirical data shows remarkable improvement in accuracy when compared with the established random sample consensus method. LTRC is also robust against inaccurate map data

Smart Geographic object: Toward a new understanding of GIS Technology in Ubiquitous Computing

One of the fundamental aspects of ubiquitous computing is the instrumentation of the real world by smart devices. This instrumentation constitutes an opportunity to rethink the interactions between human beings and their environment on the one hand, and between the components of this environment on the other. In this paper we discuss what this understanding of ubiquitous computing can bring to geographic science and particularly to GIS technology. Our main idea is the instrumentation of the geographic environment through the instrumentation of geographic objects composing it. And then investigate how this instrumentation can meet the current limitations of GIS technology, and offers a new stage of rapprochement between the earth and its abstraction. As result, the current research work proposes a new concept we named Smart Geographic Object SGO. The latter is a convergence point between the smart objects and geographic objects, two concepts appertaining respectively to

Knowledge Representation for Robots through Human-Robot Interaction

The representation of the knowledge needed by a robot to perform complex tasks is restricted by the limitations of perception. One possible way of overcoming this situation and designing "knowledgeable" robots is to rely on the interaction with the user. We propose a multi-modal interaction framework that allows to effectively acquire knowledge about the environment where the robot operates. In particular, in this paper we present a rich representation framework that can be automatically built from the metric map annotated with the indications provided by the user. Such a representation, allows then the robot to ground complex referential expressions for motion commands and to devise topological navigation plans to achieve the target locations.Comment: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Robotics Workshop at ICLP 201

Service-oriented Context-aware Framework

Location- and context-aware services are emerging technologies in mobile and desktop environments, however, most of them are difficult to use and do not seem to be beneficial enough. Our research focuses on designing and creating a service-oriented framework that helps location- and context-aware, client-service type application development and use. Location information is combined with other contexts such as the users' history, preferences and disabilities. The framework also handles the spatial model of the environment (e.g. map of a room or a building) as a context. The framework is built on a semantic backend where the ontologies are represented using the OWL description language. The use of ontologies enables the framework to run inference tasks and to easily adapt to new context types. The framework contains a compatibility layer for positioning devices, which hides the technical differences of positioning technologies and enables the combination of location data of various sources

Semantic information for robot navigation: a survey

There is a growing trend in robotics for implementing behavioural mechanisms based on human psychology, such as the processes associated with thinking. Semantic knowledge has opened new paths in robot navigation, allowing a higher level of abstraction in the representation of information. In contrast with the early years, when navigation relied on geometric navigators that interpreted the environment as a series of accessible areas or later developments that led to the use of graph theory, semantic information has moved robot navigation one step further. This work presents a survey on the concepts, methodologies and techniques that allow including semantic information in robot navigation systems. The techniques involved have to deal with a range of tasks from modelling the environment and building a semantic map, to including methods to learn new concepts and the representation of the knowledge acquired, in many cases through interaction with users. As understanding the environment is essential to achieve high-level navigation, this paper reviews techniques for acquisition of semantic information, paying attention to the two main groups: human-assisted and autonomous techniques. Some state-of-the-art semantic knowledge representations are also studied, including ontologies, cognitive maps and semantic maps. All of this leads to a recent concept, semantic navigation, which integrates the previous topics to generate high-level navigation systems able to deal with real-world complex situationsThe research leading to these results has received funding from HEROITEA: Heterogeneous 480 Intelligent Multi-Robot Team for Assistance of Elderly People (RTI2018-095599-B-C21), funded by Spanish 481 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. The research leading to this work was also supported project "Robots sociales para estimulacón física, cognitiva y afectiva de mayores"; funded by the Spanish State Research Agency under grant 2019/00428/001. It is also funded by WASP-AI Sweden; and by Spanish project Robotic-Based Well-Being Monitoring and Coaching for Elderly People during Daily Life Activities (RTI2018-095599-A-C22)

Scan matching by cross-correlation and differential evolution

Scan matching is an important task, solved in the context of many high-level problems including pose estimation, indoor localization, simultaneous localization and mapping and others. Methods that are accurate and adaptive and at the same time computationally efficient are required to enable location-based services in autonomous mobile devices. Such devices usually have a wide range of high-resolution sensors but only a limited processing power and constrained energy supply. This work introduces a novel high-level scan matching strategy that uses a combination of two advanced algorithms recently used in this field: cross-correlation and differential evolution. The cross-correlation between two laser range scans is used as an efficient measure of scan alignment and the differential evolution algorithm is used to search for the parameters of a transformation that aligns the scans. The proposed method was experimentally validated and showed good ability to match laser range scans taken shortly after each other and an excellent ability to match laser range scans taken with longer time intervals between them.Web of Science88art. no. 85