Viewfinder: final activity report

The VIEW-FINDER project (2006-2009) is an 'Advanced Robotics' project that seeks to apply a semi-autonomous robotic system to inspect ground safety in the event of a fire. Its primary aim is to gather data (visual and chemical) in order to assist rescue personnel. A base station combines the gathered information with information retrieved from off-site sources. The project addresses key issues related to map building and reconstruction, interfacing local command information with external sources, human-robot interfaces and semi-autonomous robot navigation. The VIEW-FINDER system is a semi-autonomous; the individual robot-sensors operate autonomously within the limits of the task assigned to them, that is, they will autonomously navigate through and inspect an area. Human operators monitor their operations and send high level task requests as well as low level commands through the interface to any nodes in the entire system. The human interface has to ensure the human supervisor and human interveners are provided a reduced but good and relevant overview of the ground and the robots and human rescue workers therein

Design and Development of an Inspection Robotic System for Indoor Applications

The inspection and monitoring of industrial sites, structures, and infrastructure are important issues for their sustainability and further maintenance. Although these tasks are repetitive and time consuming, and some of these environments may be characterized by dust, humidity, or absence of natural light, classical approach relies on large human activities. Automatic or robotic solutions can be considered useful tools for inspection because they can be effective in exploring dangerous or inaccessible sites, at relatively low-cost and reducing the time required for the relief. The development of a paradigmatic system called Inspection Robotic System (IRS) is the main objective of this paper to demonstrate the feasibility of mechatronic solutions for inspection of industrial sites. The development of such systems will be exploited in the form of a tool kit to be flexible and installed on a mobile system, in order to be used for inspection and monitoring, possibly introducing high efficiency, quality and repetitiveness in the related sector. The interoperability of sensors with wireless communication may form a smart sensors tool kit and a smart sensor network with powerful functions to be effectively used for inspection purposes. Moreover, it may constitute a solution for a broad range of scenarios spacing from industrial sites, brownfields, historical sites or sites dangerous or difficult to access by operators. First experimental tests are reported to show the engineering feasibility of the system and interoperability of the mobile hybrid robot equipped with sensors that allow real-time multiple acquisition and storage

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 355)

This bibliography lists 147 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during October, 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Mobile Three-Dimensional Maps for Wayfinding in Large and Complex Buildings: Empirical Comparison of First-Person Versus Third-Person Perspective

3noThe computational capabilities of today’s smartphones make it possible to take advantage of mobile threedimensional (3-D) maps to support navigation in the physical world. In particular, 3-D maps might be useful to facilitate indoor wayfinding in large and complex buildings, where the typical orientation cues (e.g., street names) and location tracking technologies that can be used outdoors are unavailable. The use of mobile 3-D maps for indoor wayfinding is still largely unexplored and research on how to best design such tools has been scarce to date. One overlooked but important design decision for 3-D maps concerns the perspective from which the map content should be displayed, with first-person and third-person perspectives being the two major options. This paper presents a user study involving wayfinding tasks in a large and complex building, comparing amobile 3-Dmap with first-person perspective, a mobile 3-D map with third-person perspective, and a traditional mobile 2-D map. The first-person perspective shows the mobile 3-D map of the building from a floorlevel egocentric point of view, whereas the third-person perspective shows the surroundings of the user from a fixed distance behind and above her position. Results of the study reveal that the mobile 3-Dmap with third-person perspective leads to shorter orientation time before walking, better clarity ratings, lower workload, mental demand and effort scores, and higher preference score compared to the mobile 3-D map with first-person perspective. Moreover, it leads to shorter orientation time before walking, better pleasantness ratings, lower mental demand scores, and higher preference score compared to the mobile 2-D map.partially_openopenBurigat, Stefano; Chittaro, Luca; Sioni, RiccardoBurigat, Stefano; Chittaro, Luca; Sioni, Riccard

Mobile robotic teleguide based on video images

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