The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
This paper describes a probabilistic technique to coordinate multiple robots in perimeter searching and tracking tasks, which are typical when they have to detect, and follow anomalies in an environment (e.g. Fire in a forest). The proposed method is based on particle filter technique, it uses multiple robots to fuse distributed sensor information and estimate the shape of an anomaly. Complementary...
In this paper we report on the development of a modular multi-DoF F/T sensor and its use in the implementation of a sensorized object capable of multi-touch detection. The sensor is composed of six 6-axis F/T sensors spatially organized on the faces of a cube. Different calibration methods are presented to directly tackle the coupling phenomena inherent to the spatial organization of the faces and...
Collision prediction is a fundamental operation for planning motion in dynamic environment. Existing methods usually exploit complex behavior models or use dynamic constraints in collision prediction. However, these methods all assume simple geometries, such as disc, which significantly limit their applicability. This paper proposes a new approach that advances collision prediction beyond disc robots...
Using laser range finders has shown its efficiency to perform mapping and navigation for mobile robots. However, most of existing methods assume a mostly static world and filter away dynamic aspects while those dynamic aspects are often caused by non-stationary objects which may be important for the robot task. We propose an approach that makes it possible to detect, learn and recognize these objects...
We present three methods of achieving compliant motion with a snake robot by controlling the torques exerted by the joints of the robot. Two strategies command joint torques based solely on the robot's local curvature (i.e. joint angles). A third strategy commands joint angles, velocities, and torques based on the recorded feedback from the robot while executing a previously defined motion under position...
This work proposes a representation that comprises both shape and friction, as well as the exploration strategy to gather them from an object. The representation is developed under a common probabilistic framework, particularly it uses a Gaussian Process to approximate the distribution of the friction coefficient over the surface, also represented as a Gaussian Process. The surface model is exploited...
Affordances are used in robotics to model action opportunities of a robotic manipulator on an object in the environment. Previous work has shown how statistical relational learning can be used in a discrete setting to extend affordances to model relations and interactions between multiple objects being manipulated by a robotic arm and deal with environment uncertainty. In this paper, we first extend...
Area coverage is one of the compelling applications of UAVs. The existing methods for coverage path planning assume a uniformly interesting target area. However in many real world applications items of interest are not uniformly distributed but form clusters. Here it can be advantageous to only sample regions of interest while skipping uninteresting sections of the environment. In this paper, we present...
In this paper, we propose a novel unified framework for unsupervised object individuation from RGB-D image sequences. The proposed framework integrates existing location-based and feature-based object segmentation methods to achieve both computational efficiency and robustness in unstructured and dynamic situations. Based on the infant's object indexing theory, the newly proposed ambiguity graph plays...
Highly articulated robots have the potential to play a key role in minimally invasive surgeries by providing improved access to hard-to-reach anatomy. Estimating their shape inside the body and combining it with 3D preoperative scans of the anatomy enable the surgeon to visualize how the entire robot interacts with the internal organs. As the robot progresses inside the body, the position and orientation...
Cardiac ablation using flexible catheters is a common interventional procedure for treating cardiac arrhythmia. This procedure is performed under image guidance and the contact force between the ablation tip and the heart tissue is one of the factors that greatly impacts the efficacy of the ablation procedure. This paper investigates the feasibility of estimating the force that the catheter tip exerts...
This paper proposes a semi-autonomous navigated master-slave system, for robot assisted remote echography for early trauma assessment. Two RGB-D sensors are used to capture real-time 3D information of the scene at the slave side where the patient is located. A 3D statistical shape model is built and used to generate a customized patient model based on the point cloud generated by the RGB-D sensors...
We present a neural dynamics architecture for grasping that integrates perceptual processes of scene exploration, object selection and classification, and grasp pose estimation with motor processes such as planning and controlling reach and grasp movements. Inspired by theories of human embodied cognition, the entire architecture is essentially one big dynamical system from which discrete events such...
Shape sensing, where the shape of an object is estimated using fiber optical Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, has gained increasing popularity in the last years. While the production process and the applications are different for the various research groups, the basic principle of shape sensing is the same: at certain cross-sections along the observed object, the information of three strain measurements...
This paper presents a new approach to multi-robot environment exploration based on label maps building through recognition of frontiers. At first, the model of multi-robot environment exploration is built and analysed, in which, the label map building, the formation and role modeling, and the task assignment are synthetically considered. Then the behavior coordination towards exploration process is...
The cognitive psychology has focused on understanding how humans think and solve problems. As analogy, the robotics systems have used this research to try to make robots more "intelligent" imitating cognitive models. How things are perceived and transformed in mental structures, and how they are retained, is still an open question, although a lot of progress has been done. For example, some...
This article deals with path planning algorithms based on known representation of the environment. In terms of such planning choice of suitable environment representation is important. The introduction of this article is dedicated to this issue. The main body is concerned about the path planning algorithms. Several algorithms are described, verified and compared. Key contribution of this article is...
A significant amount of cargo is transported in sacks, e.g., coffee and cacao, which are predominantly handled through manual labor, e.g., when being unloaded from shipping containers. There is hence a huge potential for automation. We present here a perception pipeline to recognize and localize sacks with a low-cost sensor. The pipeline is embedded in an industrial demonstration system for container...
Novel platforms of modular robot systems have been developed with important applications in safety, transportation and sensing domains. In such systems, modular robots are able to change their organization in order to obtain different shapes. The conception of distributed programs allowing the "optimal" reorganization of a set of robots into a specific shape appears as a very challenging...
Seeing the world through the eyes of a child is always difficult. Designing a robot that might be liked and accepted by young users is therefore particularly complicated. We have investigated children's opinions on which features are most important in an interactive robot during a popular scientific event where we exhibited the iCub humanoid robot to a mixed public of various ages. From the observation...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.