28,118 research outputs found
Embodied Evolution in Collective Robotics: A Review
This paper provides an overview of evolutionary robotics techniques applied
to on-line distributed evolution for robot collectives -- namely, embodied
evolution. It provides a definition of embodied evolution as well as a thorough
description of the underlying concepts and mechanisms. The paper also presents
a comprehensive summary of research published in the field since its inception
(1999-2017), providing various perspectives to identify the major trends. In
particular, we identify a shift from considering embodied evolution as a
parallel search method within small robot collectives (fewer than 10 robots) to
embodied evolution as an on-line distributed learning method for designing
collective behaviours in swarm-like collectives. The paper concludes with a
discussion of applications and open questions, providing a milestone for past
and an inspiration for future research.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl
Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks
In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge,
and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor
Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system
that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining
certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control,
learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and
WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new
opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields
which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be
the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path
between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the
advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of
articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a
range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant
to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core
problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity,
localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the
existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from
robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in
the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature,
and identify topics that require more research attention in the future
A Comparison of the Pac-X Trans-Pacific Wave Glider Data and Satellite Data (MODIS, Aquarius, TRMM and VIIRS)
Tracy A. Villareal, Marine Science Institute and Department of Marine Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of AmericaCara Wilson, Environmental Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Pacific Grove, California, United States of AmericaFour wave-propelled autonomous vehicles (Wave Gliders) instrumented with a variety of oceanographic and meteorological sensors were launched from San Francisco, CA in November 2011 for a trans-Pacific (Pac-X) voyage to test platform endurance. Two arrived in Australia, one in Dec 2012 and one in February 2013, while the two destined for Japan both ran into technical difficulties and did not arrive at their destination. The gliders were all equipped with sensors to measure temperature, salinity, turbidity, oxygen, and both chlorophyll and oil fluorescence. Here we conduct an initial assessment of the data set, noting necessary quality control steps and instrument utility. We conduct a validation of the Pac-X dataset by comparing the glider data to equivalent, or near-equivalent, satellite measurements. Sea surface temperature and salinity compared well to satellite measurements. Chl fluorescence from the gliders was more poorly correlated, with substantial between glider variability. Both turbidity and oil CDOM sensors were compromised to some degree by interfering processes. The well-known diel cycle in chlorophyll fluorescence was observed suggesting that mapping physiological data over large scales is possible. The gliders captured the Pacific Ocean’s major oceanographic features including the increased chlorophyll biomass of the California Current and equatorial upwelling. A comparison of satellite sea surface salinity (Aquarius) and glider-measured salinity revealed thin low salinity lenses in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. One glider survived a direct passage through a tropical cyclone. Two gliders traversed an open ocean phytoplankton bloom; extensive spiking in the chlorophyll fluorescence data is consistent with aggregation and highlights another potential future use for the gliders. On long missions, redundant instrumentation would aid in interpreting unusual data streams, as well as a means to periodically image the sensor heads. Instrument placement is critical to minimize bubble-related problems in the data.The authors have no support or funding to report.Marine ScienceEmail: [email protected]
Past, Present, and Future of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping: Towards the Robust-Perception Age
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)consists in the concurrent
construction of a model of the environment (the map), and the estimation of the
state of the robot moving within it. The SLAM community has made astonishing
progress over the last 30 years, enabling large-scale real-world applications,
and witnessing a steady transition of this technology to industry. We survey
the current state of SLAM. We start by presenting what is now the de-facto
standard formulation for SLAM. We then review related work, covering a broad
set of topics including robustness and scalability in long-term mapping, metric
and semantic representations for mapping, theoretical performance guarantees,
active SLAM and exploration, and other new frontiers. This paper simultaneously
serves as a position paper and tutorial to those who are users of SLAM. By
looking at the published research with a critical eye, we delineate open
challenges and new research issues, that still deserve careful scientific
investigation. The paper also contains the authors' take on two questions that
often animate discussions during robotics conferences: Do robots need SLAM? and
Is SLAM solved
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