6,227 research outputs found
C-blox: A Scalable and Consistent TSDF-based Dense Mapping Approach
In many applications, maintaining a consistent dense map of the environment
is key to enabling robotic platforms to perform higher level decision making.
Several works have addressed the challenge of creating precise dense 3D maps
from visual sensors providing depth information. However, during operation over
longer missions, reconstructions can easily become inconsistent due to
accumulated camera tracking error and delayed loop closure. Without explicitly
addressing the problem of map consistency, recovery from such distortions tends
to be difficult. We present a novel system for dense 3D mapping which addresses
the challenge of building consistent maps while dealing with scalability.
Central to our approach is the representation of the environment as a
collection of overlapping TSDF subvolumes. These subvolumes are localized
through feature-based camera tracking and bundle adjustment. Our main
contribution is a pipeline for identifying stable regions in the map, and to
fuse the contributing subvolumes. This approach allows us to reduce map growth
while still maintaining consistency. We demonstrate the proposed system on a
publicly available dataset and simulation engine, and demonstrate the efficacy
of the proposed approach for building consistent and scalable maps. Finally we
demonstrate our approach running in real-time on-board a lightweight MAV.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, conferenc
Efficient Online Surface Correction for Real-time Large-Scale 3D Reconstruction
State-of-the-art methods for large-scale 3D reconstruction from RGB-D sensors
usually reduce drift in camera tracking by globally optimizing the estimated
camera poses in real-time without simultaneously updating the reconstructed
surface on pose changes. We propose an efficient on-the-fly surface correction
method for globally consistent dense 3D reconstruction of large-scale scenes.
Our approach uses a dense Visual RGB-D SLAM system that estimates the camera
motion in real-time on a CPU and refines it in a global pose graph
optimization. Consecutive RGB-D frames are locally fused into keyframes, which
are incorporated into a sparse voxel hashed Signed Distance Field (SDF) on the
GPU. On pose graph updates, the SDF volume is corrected on-the-fly using a
novel keyframe re-integration strategy with reduced GPU-host streaming. We
demonstrate in an extensive quantitative evaluation that our method is up to
93% more runtime efficient compared to the state-of-the-art and requires
significantly less memory, with only negligible loss of surface quality.
Overall, our system requires only a single GPU and allows for real-time surface
correction of large environments.Comment: British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC), London, September 201
Efficient Online Surface Correction for Real-time Large-Scale 3D Reconstruction
State-of-the-art methods for large-scale 3D reconstruction from RGB-D sensors
usually reduce drift in camera tracking by globally optimizing the estimated
camera poses in real-time without simultaneously updating the reconstructed
surface on pose changes. We propose an efficient on-the-fly surface correction
method for globally consistent dense 3D reconstruction of large-scale scenes.
Our approach uses a dense Visual RGB-D SLAM system that estimates the camera
motion in real-time on a CPU and refines it in a global pose graph
optimization. Consecutive RGB-D frames are locally fused into keyframes, which
are incorporated into a sparse voxel hashed Signed Distance Field (SDF) on the
GPU. On pose graph updates, the SDF volume is corrected on-the-fly using a
novel keyframe re-integration strategy with reduced GPU-host streaming. We
demonstrate in an extensive quantitative evaluation that our method is up to
93% more runtime efficient compared to the state-of-the-art and requires
significantly less memory, with only negligible loss of surface quality.
Overall, our system requires only a single GPU and allows for real-time surface
correction of large environments.Comment: British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC), London, September 201
Visual 3-D SLAM from UAVs
The aim of the paper is to present, test and discuss the implementation of Visual SLAM techniques to images taken from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) outdoors, in partially structured environments. Every issue of the whole process is discussed in order to obtain more accurate localization and mapping from UAVs flights. Firstly, the issues related to the visual features of objects in the scene, their distance to the UAV, and the related image acquisition system and their calibration are evaluated for improving the whole process. Other important, considered issues are related to the image processing techniques, such as interest point detection, the matching procedure and the scaling factor. The whole system has been tested using the COLIBRI mini UAV in partially structured environments. The results that have been obtained for localization, tested against the GPS information of the flights, show that Visual SLAM delivers reliable localization and mapping that makes it suitable for some outdoors applications when flying UAVs
Batch Nonlinear Continuous-Time Trajectory Estimation as Exactly Sparse Gaussian Process Regression
In this paper, we revisit batch state estimation through the lens of Gaussian
process (GP) regression. We consider continuous-discrete estimation problems
wherein a trajectory is viewed as a one-dimensional GP, with time as the
independent variable. Our continuous-time prior can be defined by any
nonlinear, time-varying stochastic differential equation driven by white noise;
this allows the possibility of smoothing our trajectory estimates using a
variety of vehicle dynamics models (e.g., `constant-velocity'). We show that
this class of prior results in an inverse kernel matrix (i.e., covariance
matrix between all pairs of measurement times) that is exactly sparse
(block-tridiagonal) and that this can be exploited to carry out GP regression
(and interpolation) very efficiently. When the prior is based on a linear,
time-varying stochastic differential equation and the measurement model is also
linear, this GP approach is equivalent to classical, discrete-time smoothing
(at the measurement times); when a nonlinearity is present, we iterate over the
whole trajectory to maximize accuracy. We test the approach experimentally on a
simultaneous trajectory estimation and mapping problem using a mobile robot
dataset.Comment: Submitted to Autonomous Robots on 20 November 2014, manuscript #
AURO-D-14-00185, 16 pages, 7 figure
Self-renewal of single mouse hematopoietic stem cells is reduced by JAK2V617F without compromising progenitor cell expansion
Recent descriptions of significant heterogeneity in normal stem cells and cancers have altered our understanding of tumorigenesis, emphasizing the need to understand how single stem cells are subverted to cause tumors. Human myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are thought to reflect transformation of a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and the majority harbor an acquired V617F mutation in the JAK2 tyrosine kinase, making them a paradigm for studying the early stages of tumor establishment and progression. The consequences of activating tyrosine kinase mutations for stem and progenitor cell behavior are unclear. In this article, we identify a distinct cellular mechanism operative in stem cells. By using conditional knock-in mice, we show that the HSC defect resulting from expression of heterozygous human JAK2V617F is both quantitative (reduced HSC numbers) and qualitative (lineage biases and reduced self-renewal per HSC). The defect is intrinsic to individual HSCs and their progeny are skewed toward proliferation and differentiation as evidenced by single cell and transplantation assays. Aged JAK2V617F show a more pronounced defect as assessed by transplantation, but mice that transform reacquire competitive self-renewal ability. Quantitative analysis of HSC-derived clones was used to model the fate choices of normal and JAK2-mutant HSCs and indicates that JAK2V617F reduces self-renewal of individual HSCs but leaves progenitor expansion intact. This conclusion is supported by paired daughter cell analyses, which indicate that JAK2-mutant HSCs more often give rise to two differentiated daughter cells. Together these data suggest that acquisition of JAK2V617F alone is insufficient for clonal expansion and disease progression and causes eventual HSC exhaustion. Moreover, our results show that clonal expansion of progenitor cells provides a window in which collaborating mutations can accumulate to drive disease progression. Characterizing the mechanism(s) of JAK2V617F subclinical clonal expansions and the transition to overt MPNs will illuminate the earliest stages of tumor establishment and subclone competition, fundamentally shifting the way we treat and manage cancers
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