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The main task of rescue robots is to locate victims after a disaster such as an earthquake. For this task sensor data is used to localize the robots in their environment, build maps, and mark the victims in the maps. Usually, thermal and color cameras, monitored by a human operator, are used for the detection. Hyperspectral imaging techniques are today used for industrial tasks such as quality control,...
A theoretical framework for generating navigation behaviour patterns in mixed human-robot groups in complex environments is proposed. This framework represents an essential part in the development of a multiple robot-human system for assisting fire-fighters in search and rescue operations in the GUARDIANS project. In order to produce the desired behaviours an artificial potential field method has...
This paper proposes a generic control architecture for robot systems performing search and rescue operations. The multimodal attention is introduced as an important factor in the design and implementation of control architecture for robot systems. We also considered a reliable learning ability of robot system about an explored environment as another important aspect to increase the robustness of decision...
In this paper, we proposed a method to estimate the destination of walking persons from their walking patterns, for avoidance of collision accidents between pedestrians and robots in a human-robot coexistence environment. We adopted the hidden Markov model (HMM) as a model to represent walking patterns. We constructed a model for each movement pattern. A movement pattern was defined with a departure...
In the paper, we show mobility and operability of flexible mono-tread mobile track (FMT) through experiments. For mobility, FMT can climb over a thin plate, recover from lying position on its side, and side wind. As a result, it is partly proven that FMT has enough ability for the complex environment. For operability, FMT is better than a differential type track vehicle in the case that vehicle traces...
Authors have studied a radar system with two dimensional array antennas to find survivors accidentally buried in rubble from the top under noisy environment. This paper concentrates on the two issues to improve the survivor-detection abilities. One is a method for the measurement of three dimensional location of each antennas by using ARToolkit. The other is a method for the reduction of impulsive...
For disaster mitigation as well as for urban search and rescue (USAR) missions, it is often necessary to place sensors or cameras into dangerous or inaccessible areas to get a better situation awareness for the rescue personnel, before they enter a possibly dangerous area. Robots are predestined to this task, but the requirements for such mobile systems are demanding. They should be quick and agile...
This paper considers a multi-agent system and focuses on the detection of motion misbehavior. Previous work by the authors proposed a solution, where agents act as local monitors of their neighbors and use locally sensed information as well as data received from other monitors. In this work, we consider possible failure of monitors that may send incorrect information to their neighbors due to spontaneous...
This paper presents a new path planning algorithm for the autonomous navigation of a nonholonomic mobile robot. The environment in which the robot evolves is unknown and encumbered by obstacles. The goal of the robot is to move towards the arrival point (which is known) by avoiding the obstacles. The path planning algorithm recomputes a new trajectory whenever a new obstacle is detected. The planned...
This paper presents a simplified architectural description for the urban surveillance experiment under development within the URUS project. The description contains two views in the computational viewpoint that are also applicable to other classes of network robotics problems. These are a functional layer through which the system has basis operational capabilities, and a human layer that concentrates...
In the case of simulators of mobile robots, it is necessary to clarify the similarity between actual and simulated robots in order to improve the efficiency and transparency of simulators as research tools. Because of its real-time performance, USAR-Sim [1] has been popularly used in studies involving human-robot interactions. However, since USARSim uses approximations and abbreviations in its physical...
Holonomic behavior is desirable in the tight confines of a rubbled, collapsed-structure environment. But arbitrary motion is difficult to achieve, mechanically, particularly since treads are the most common form of locomotive device in search and rescue robots. We are developing a reconfigurable suite of locomotive modules that permit side-slipping locomotion. Initially designed as add-on modules...
This paper describes a visual display that provides depth of objects to be grasped and was developed at the request of a local bomb squad for use with a bomb disposal robot. The display provides four key functions: (1) it allows the operator to extract the distance between the object and the robot's grasper that each pixel represents, (2) it cues the operator when the object is within a predefined...
A tethered Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) provided structural forensic inspection of the collapsed Berkman Plaza II six-story parking garage. The sUAS, an iSENSYS IP3 miniature helicopter, was tethered to meet US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements for unregulated flight below 45 m (150 ft). This created new platform control, human-robot interaction, and safety issues in addition...
In this paper, we present a navigation interface for multiple robots. For the task of information collection in disaster areas, it is efficient to use multiple robots. However with existing interfaces of rescue robots, one operator can not conveniently control multiple robots at the same time. In this paper, we report the development of an interface that offers convenient interaction with multiple...
In this report, we propose a new video communication method for the robot vision network in which video signals are shared by "robots" and "humans". A conventional compression algorithm, such as JPEG or MPEG discards component signals insensitive to human eyes, e.g. high frequency band and tiny signals. On the contrary, the proposed method transmits minimum components necessary...
The smaller the robot the easier it is for it to access voids in a collapsed structure. Yet, small size brings a host of problems due to resource constraints. One of the primary constraints on small robots is limited motive power to surmount obstacles and rough terrain. We are developing a small reconfigurable robotic system with various add-on modules to provide bulk motive force adaptable for different...
Haptic human-machine interfaces and similar techniques to enhancing human-robotic interaction offer significant potential over conventional approaches. This work considers achieving intuitive motion control of a tracked mobile robotic platform utilising a 3D virtual haptic cone. The 3D haptic cone extends upon existing approaches by introducing of a third dimension to the haptic control surface. It...
Multi-segmented robots are predestined for autonomous or teleoperated inspection tasks in complex scenarios. As these systems have many degrees of freedom (DOF), their redundancy can be used to solve kinematic deadlocks. Such deadlocks can occur due to collisions in a cluttered environment or due to the wish to drive complex maneuvers that need a high-dimensional control vector. As an example, a complex...
The need for improving the robustness and the ability to adapt to different operational conditions is a key requirement for a wider deployment of robots in many application domains. To this end, uses of contextual information have proven to be effective in many robotic applications. In this paper, we present a case study on the use of contextual information for rescue robots. The goal is to show that...
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