End-to-End Tracking and Semantic Segmentation Using Recurrent Neural Networks

In this work we present a novel end-to-end framework for tracking and classifying a robot's surroundings in complex, dynamic and only partially observable real-world environments. The approach deploys a recurrent neural network to filter an input stream of raw laser measurements in order to directly infer object locations, along with their identity in both visible and occluded areas. To achieve this we first train the network using unsupervised Deep Tracking, a recently proposed theoretical framework for end-to-end space occupancy prediction. We show that by learning to track on a large amount of unsupervised data, the network creates a rich internal representation of its environment which we in turn exploit through the principle of inductive transfer of knowledge to perform the task of it's semantic classification. As a result, we show that only a small amount of labelled data suffices to steer the network towards mastering this additional task. Furthermore we propose a novel recurrent neural network architecture specifically tailored to tracking and semantic classification in real-world robotics applications. We demonstrate the tracking and classification performance of the method on real-world data collected at a busy road junction. Our evaluation shows that the proposed end-to-end framework compares favourably to a state-of-the-art, model-free tracking solution and that it outperforms a conventional one-shot training scheme for semantic classification

Tracking and Following Algorithms of Mobile Robots for Service Activities in Dynamic Environments

By providing the capability of following a human target in an appropriate manner, the robot can assist people in various ways under different environments. One of the main difficulties when performing human tracking and following is the occlusion problem caused by static as well as dynamic obstacles. The aim of the paper is to tackle the occlusion problem by planning a robotic trajectory of maximizing target visibility and following the moving target. Initially, a laser range finder is used to detect the human target and then robustly track the target using the Kalman filter. Afterward, a human following algorithm based on a look-ahead algorithm, DWA*, is implemented to pursue the target while avoiding any static or dynamic obstacles. Fundamental experiments have been extensively tested to evaluate robot maneuvers and several field tests are conducted in more complex environments such as student cafeteria, computer center, and university library.</span