Variable structure robot control systems: The RAPP approach

International audienceThis paper presents a method of designing variable structure control systems for robots. As the on-board robot computational resources are limited, but in some cases the demands imposed on the robot by the user are virtually limitless, the solution is to produce a variable structure system. The task dependent part has to be exchanged, however the task governs the activities of the robot. Thus not only exchange of some task-dependent modules is required, but also supervisory responsibilities have to be switched. Such control systems are necessary in the case of robot companions, where the owner of the robot may demand from it to provide many services.

Robotic inventorying and localization of RFID tags, exploiting phase-fingerprinting

Summarization: In this paper we investigate the performance of phase-based fingerprinting for the localization of RFID-tagged items in warehouses and large retail stores, by deploying ground and aerial RFID-equipped robots. The measured phases of the target RFID tags, collected along a given robot's trajectory, are compared to the corresponding phase-measurements of reference RFID tags; i.e. tags placed at known locations. The advantage of the method is that it doesn't need to estimate the robot's trajectory, since estimation is carried out by comparing phase measurements collected at neighboring time-intervals. This is of paramount importance for an RFID equipped drone, destined to fly indoors, since its weight should be kept as low as possible, in order to constrain its diameter correspondingly small. The phase measurements are initially unwrapped and then fingerprinting is applied. We compare the phase-fingerprinting with RSSI based fingerprinting. Phase-fingerprinting is significantly more accurate, because of the shape of the phase-function, which is typically U-shaped, with its minimum, measured at the point of the trajectory, when the robot-tag distance is minimised. Experimental accuracy of 15cm is typically achieved, depending on the density of the reference tags' grid.Presented on

Real-time 3D localization of RFID-tagged products by ground robots and drones with commercial off-the-shelf RFID equipment: challenges and solutions

Summarization: In this paper we investigate the problem of localizing passive RFID tags by ground robots and drones. We focus on autonomous robots, capable of entering a previously unknown environment, creating a 3D map of it, navigating safely in it, localizing themselves while moving, then localizing all RFID tagged objects and pinpointing their locations in the 3D map with cm accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that presents the complex joint problem, including challenges from the field of robotics - i) sensors utilization, ii) local and global path planners, iii) navigation, iv) simultaneous localization of the robot and mapping - and from the field of RFIDs - vi) localization of the tags. We restrict our analysis to solutions, involving commercial UHF EPC Gen2 RFID tags, commercial off-the-self RFID readers and 3D real-time-only methods for tag-localization. We briefly present a new method, suitable for real-time 3D inventorying, and compare it with our two recent methods. Comparison is carried out on a new set of experiments, conducted in a multipath-rich indoor environment, where the actual problem is treated; i.e. our prototype robot constructs a 3D map, navigates in the environment, continuously estimates its poses as well as the locations of the surrounding tags. Localization results are given in a few seconds for 100 tags, parsing approximately 100000 measured samples from 4 antennas, collected within 4 minutes and achieving a mean 3D error of 25cm, which includes the error propagating from robotics and the uncertainty related to the "ground truth" of the tags' placement.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: 2020 IEEE International Conference on RFI

Fingerprinting localization of RFID tags with real-time performance-assessment, using a moving robot

Summarization: This work is focused on unmanned inventorying and localization, by deploying an RFID-equipped autonomous robot. The robot is able to perform Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), thanks to its optical sensors. As the robot moves inside the target area, it continuously interrogates all RFID tags within range. Passive RFID tags, placed at known locations, are used for the estimation of the locations of the target tags, by properly manipulating the measured backscattered power. The proposed method does not depend on the location of the reader, but only on the locations of the reference tags. Hence, positioning-errors related to SLAM are not accumulated. Mobility of the robot ensures rich collection of measurements. We propose a method for dynamic, real-time configuration of the parameters of the fingerprinting algorithm and real-time evaluation of the localization error of the unknown tags. This is achieved by treating the reference tags as target tags. Thanks to this property, we further exploit mobility of the robot, repeating inventorying and localization in areas, where poor performance is initially recorded. Measurements indicate a mean error of 18cm, with standard deviation of 11cm, deploying a single antenna.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagatio