546 research outputs found
osmAG: Hierarchical Semantic Topometric Area Graph Maps in the OSM Format for Mobile Robotics
Maps are essential to mobile robotics tasks like localization and planning.
We propose the open street map (osm) XML based Area Graph file format to store
hierarchical, topometric semantic multi-floor maps of indoor and outdoor
environments, since currently no such format is popular within the robotics
community. Building on-top of osm we leverage the available open source editing
tools and libraries of osm, while adding the needed mobile robotics aspect with
building-level obstacle representation yet very compact, topometric data that
facilitates planning algorithms. Through the use of common osm keys as well as
custom ones we leverage the power of semantic annotation to enable various
applications. For example, we support planning based on robot capabilities, to
take the locomotion mode and attributes in conjunction with the environment
information into account. The provided C++ library is integrated into ROS. We
evaluate the performance of osmAG using real data in a global path planning
application on a very big osmAG map, demonstrating its convenience and
effectiveness for mobile robots.Comment: 7 page
Autonomous Trail Following
Trails typically lack standard markers that characterize roadways. Nevertheless, trails are useful for off-road navigation. Here, trail following problem is approached by identifying the deviation of the robot from the heading direction of the trail by fine-tuning a pre-trained Inception-V3 [1] network. Key questions considered in this work include the required number, nature and geometry of the cameras and how trail types -- encoded in pre-existing maps -- can be exploited in addressing this task. Through evaluation of representative image datasets and on-robot testing we found: (i) that although a single camera cannot estimate angular deviation from the heading direction, but it can reliably detect that the robot is, or is not, following the trail; (ii) that two cameras pointing towards the left and the right can be used to estimate heading reliably within a differential framework; (iii) that trail nature is a useful tool for training networks for different trail types
Augmented Reality and GPS-Based Resource Efficient Navigation System for Outdoor Environments: Integrating Device Camera, Sensors, and Storage
Contemporary navigation systems rely upon localisation accuracy and humongous spatial data for navigational assistance. Such spatial-data sources may have access restrictions or quality issues and require massive storage space. Affordable high-performance mobile consumer hardware and smart software have resulted in the popularity of AR and VR technologies. These technologies can help to develop sustainable devices for navigation. This paper introduces a robust, memory-efficient, augmented-reality-based navigation system for outdoor environments using crowdsourced spatial data, a device camera, and mapping algorithms. The proposed system unifies the basic map information, points of interest, and individual GPS trajectories of moving entities to generate and render the mapping information. This system can perform map localisation, pathfinding, and visualisation using a low-power mobile device. A case study was undertaken to evaluate the proposed system. It was observed that the proposed system resulted in a 29 percent decrease in CPU load and a 35 percent drop in memory requirements. As spatial information was stored as comma-separated values, it required almost negligible storage space compared to traditional spatial databases. The proposed navigation system attained a maximum accuracy of 99 percent with a root mean square error value of 0.113 and a minimum accuracy of 96 percent with a corresponding root mean square value of 0.17
Risk-Aware Navigation for Mobile Robots in Unknown 3D Environments
Autonomous navigation in unknown 3D environments is a key issue for
intelligent transportation, while still being an open problem. Conventionally,
navigation risk has been focused on mitigating collisions with obstacles,
neglecting the varying degrees of harm that collisions can cause. In this
context, we propose a new risk-aware navigation framework, whose purpose is to
directly handle interactions with the environment, including those involving
minor collisions. We introduce a physically interpretable risk function that
quantifies the maximum potential energy that the robot wheels absorb as a
result of a collision. By considering this physical risk in navigation, our
approach significantly broadens the spectrum of situations that the robot can
undertake, such as speed bumps or small road curbs. Using this framework, we
are able to plan safe trajectories that not only ensure safety but also
actively address the risks arising from interactions with the environment.Comment: \copyright 2023 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted.
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