Estimation of Planar Surfaces in Noisy Range Images for the RoboCup Rescue Competition

In this contribution we present a comprehensive method to extract connected planar polygons from a range image acquired by a laser range camera. The result is a boundary representation of the objects in the scene. The approximation of the detected planes by three–dimensional polygons can be used as a source for feature–based registration of sequential range images. We focus on the processing of range images that are segmented into planar regions. The polygon of each plane is extracted by incremental line fitting on the 2D contour of the segmented region projected onto the xy–plane followed by the propagation to the corresponding 3D–plane. We present a novel idea for joining these three–dimensional polygons. Due to sparsely distributed depth values of inclined planes and noise in areas of object edges, some planes cannot be segmented completely. Therefore object edges that actually represent one edge drift apart in 3D. Such edges are detected and joined. The direction in which each edge is moved, is determined by a confidence measure, depending on the slope of the plane. We describe our experiments on range data of scenes containing planar as well as curved surfaces and give quantitative results. The estimates are compared to measurements that were manually taken. For cubic objects we compare the angles of the estimated polygons to the expected orthogonality. For approximately 70 planar surface patches we get an average error of 5 degrees. 83 percent of successfully segmented lines are joint correctly by the algorithm

Evaluation of Maps using Fixed Shapes : The Fiducial Map Metric

Mapping is an important task for mobile robots. Assessing the quality of those maps is an open topic. A new approach on map evaluation is presented here. It makes use of artificial objects placed in the environment named "Fiducials". Using the known ground-truth positions and the positions of the fiducials identified in the map, a number of quality attributes can be assigned to that map. Depending on the application domain those attributes are weighed to compute a final score. During the 2010 NIST Response Robot Evaluation Exercise at Disaster City an area was populated with fiducials and different mapping runs were performed. The maps generated there are assessed in this paper demonstrating the Fiducial approach. Finally this map scoring algorithm is compared to other approaches found in literature.Artificial Intelligence & Integrated Computer System

Evaluation of Maps using Fixed Shapes : The Fiducial Map Metric

Mapping is an important task for mobile robots. Assessing the quality of those maps is an open topic. A new approach on map evaluation is presented here. It makes use of artificial objects placed in the environment named "Fiducials". Using the known ground-truth positions and the positions of the fiducials identified in the map, a number of quality attributes can be assigned to that map. Depending on the application domain those attributes are weighed to compute a final score. During the 2010 NIST Response Robot Evaluation Exercise at Disaster City an area was populated with fiducials and different mapping runs were performed. The maps generated there are assessed in this paper demonstrating the Fiducial approach. Finally this map scoring algorithm is compared to other approaches found in literature.Artificial Intelligence & Integrated Computer System

Real-Time Detection of Arbitrary Objects in Alternating Industrial Environments

Consider the following problem: How to detect objects of undetermined and unequal shape, size and color in front of an alternating but repeating background in real-time? In addition, the objects may slightly overlap each other but have to be considered as separate objects. Also, the repeating background may change in time because of variations of the illumination or staining of the environment. This problem arises from industrial applications and requires a very robust and fast solution. Some hundreds of objects have to be detected and analyzed for overlapping within a second. The presented solution has already been used successfully in several automatic sorting techniques for recyclable materials, where the objects to be sorted are placed on a very fast conveyor belt and a perfect distribution of the objects cannot be guaranteed. The solution is based on the following principles:

RoboCup Rescue Robot and Simulation Leagues

The RoboCup Rescue Robot and Simulation competitions have been held since 2000. The experience gained during these competitions has increased the maturity level of the field, which allowed deploying robots after real disasters (e.g. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster). This article provides an overview of these competitions and highlights the state of the art and the lessons learned.ELLIITSHERP

Doctors’ and Patients’ Explanatory Models for Antidepressant Usage

Bakalaura darbs aplūko veidus, kā antidepresantu lietotāji pamato medikamentu izmantošanu vai atmešanu. Šim mērķim tiek detalizēti pētīti informantu saslimšanas skaidrojošie modeļi, kā arī, kādu ietekmi uz tiem atstāj vēršanās pie veselības aprūpes speciālistiem. Pētījumā datu iegūšanai izmantotas daļēji strukturētas intervijas, kas balstītas uz Artūra Kleinmana izstrādāto jautājumu shēmu. Pētījuma rezultāti parāda, ka antidepresantu lietošana ir ļoti komplicēta, un katrs gadījums ir specifisks. Vēršanās pie profesionālā veselības aprūpes sekotra un medikamentu lietošana spēlē ļoti būtisku lomu slimības un slimnieka lomas leģitimizēšanā. Pats depresijas ārstēšanās process gan nereti nesakrīt ar cilvēku sākotnējām gaidām, kas noved pie ārstēšanās pārtraukšanas. Antidepresantu un garīgo slimību stigmatizācija sabiedrībā ne tikai veicina pretestību pret ārstēšanos ar antidepresantiem, bet arī aktīviem lietotājiem sagādā emocionāla un sociāla rakstura grūtības.The bachelor thesis looks at the way antidepressant users justify their usage of medication, as well their reasons for discontinuation. The research features a detailed analysis of informants’ illness explanatory models, as well as how they are influenced by seeking aid from healthcare specialists. Semi-structured interviews, based on the question scheme designed by Kleinman, were used as the main data gathering method. The research results reveal that antidepressant usage is very complicated and each case is specific. Turning to the professional healthcare sector and using medicine serves an important function of legitimizing a person’s disease and sickness role. However, the depression treatment process usually fails to meet the patient’s initial expectations, which often leads to discontinuation. The stigmatization of antidepressants and mental illness creates resistence towards antidepressant treatment and also causes difficulties for active users