1,567 research outputs found
Integrating mobile robotics and vision with undergraduate computer science
This paper describes the integration of robotics education into an undergraduate Computer Science curriculum. The proposed approach delivers mobile robotics as well as covering the closely related field of Computer Vision, and is directly linked to the research conducted at the authors’ institution. The paper describes the most relevant details of the module content and assessment strategy, paying particular attention to the practical sessions using Rovio mobile robots. The specific choices are discussed that were made with regard to the mobile platform, software libraries and lab environment. The paper also presents a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of student results, including the correlation between student engagement and performance, and discusses the outcomes of this experience
Perceptual Learning and Abstraction in Machine Learning : an application to autonomous robotics
This paper deals with the possible benefits of Perceptual Learning in Artificial Intelligence. On the one hand, Perceptual Learning is more and more studied in neurobiology and is now considered as an essential part of any living system. In fact, Perceptual Learning and Cognitive Learning are both necessary for learning and often depends on each other. On the other hand, many works in Machine Learning are concerned with "Abstraction" in order to reduce the amount of complexity related to some learning tasks. In the Abstraction framework, Perceptual Learning can be seen as a specific process that learns how to transform the data before the traditional learning task itself takes place. In this paper, we argue that biologically-inspired Perceptual Learning mechanisms could be used to build efficient low-level Abstraction operators that deal with real world data. To illustrate this, we present an application where perceptual learning inspired meta-operators are used to perform an abstraction on an autonomous robot visual perception. The goal of this work is to enable the robot to learn how to identify objects it encounters in its environment
Exploiting Deep Semantics and Compositionality of Natural Language for Human-Robot-Interaction
We develop a natural language interface for human robot interaction that
implements reasoning about deep semantics in natural language. To realize the
required deep analysis, we employ methods from cognitive linguistics, namely
the modular and compositional framework of Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG)
[Feldman, 2009]. Using ECG, robots are able to solve fine-grained reference
resolution problems and other issues related to deep semantics and
compositionality of natural language. This also includes verbal interaction
with humans to clarify commands and queries that are too ambiguous to be
executed safely. We implement our NLU framework as a ROS package and present
proof-of-concept scenarios with different robots, as well as a survey on the
state of the art
Middleware platform for distributed applications incorporating robots, sensors and the cloud
Cyber-physical systems in the factory of the future
will consist of cloud-hosted software governing an agile
production process executed by autonomous mobile robots
and controlled by analyzing the data from a vast number of
sensors. CPSs thus operate on a distributed production floor
infrastructure and the set-up continuously changes with each
new manufacturing task. In this paper, we present our OSGibased
middleware that abstracts the deployment of servicebased
CPS software components on the underlying distributed
platform comprising robots, actuators, sensors and the cloud.
Moreover, our middleware provides specific support to develop
components based on artificial neural networks, a technique that
recently became very popular for sensor data analytics and robot
actuation. We demonstrate a system where a robot takes actions
based on the input from sensors in its vicinity
Using and evaluating the real-time spatial perception system hydra in real-world scenarios
Hydra is a real-time machine perception system released open source in 2022 as a package for
Robot Operating System (ROS). Machine perception systems like Hydra may play a role in
the engineering of the next generation of spatial AIs for autonomous robots. Hydra is in the
preliminary stages of its existence and does not come with intrinsic support for running on
custom datasets. This thesis primarily aims to find out whether the promised capabilities of
Hydra can be replicated. As well as to establish a workflow and guidelines for what
modifications to Hydra are needed to successfully run it
Reducing the Barrier to Entry of Complex Robotic Software: a MoveIt! Case Study
Developing robot agnostic software frameworks involves synthesizing the
disparate fields of robotic theory and software engineering while
simultaneously accounting for a large variability in hardware designs and
control paradigms. As the capabilities of robotic software frameworks increase,
the setup difficulty and learning curve for new users also increase. If the
entry barriers for configuring and using the software on robots is too high,
even the most powerful of frameworks are useless. A growing need exists in
robotic software engineering to aid users in getting started with, and
customizing, the software framework as necessary for particular robotic
applications. In this paper a case study is presented for the best practices
found for lowering the barrier of entry in the MoveIt! framework, an
open-source tool for mobile manipulation in ROS, that allows users to 1)
quickly get basic motion planning functionality with minimal initial setup, 2)
automate its configuration and optimization, and 3) easily customize its
components. A graphical interface that assists the user in configuring MoveIt!
is the cornerstone of our approach, coupled with the use of an existing
standardized robot model for input, automatically generated robot-specific
configuration files, and a plugin-based architecture for extensibility. These
best practices are summarized into a set of barrier to entry design principles
applicable to other robotic software. The approaches for lowering the entry
barrier are evaluated by usage statistics, a user survey, and compared against
our design objectives for their effectiveness to users
Decentralized collaborative transport of fabrics using micro-UAVs
Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have generally little capacity to carry
payloads. Through collaboration, the UAVs can increase their joint payload
capacity and carry more significant loads. For maximum flexibility to dynamic
and unstructured environments and task demands, we propose a fully
decentralized control infrastructure based on a swarm-specific scripting
language, Buzz. In this paper, we describe the control infrastructure and use
it to compare two algorithms for collaborative transport: field potentials and
spring-damper. We test the performance of our approach with a fleet of
micro-UAVs, demonstrating the potential of decentralized control for
collaborative transport.Comment: Submitted to 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation
(ICRA). 6 page
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