43 accepted papers
In the context of asset inspection, the size of the environment to be covered can be large. Mobile robotic systems are capable of acquiring more extensive data than static sensors, but the capacity of the robotic platform used can be limited by its autonomy and sensing capabilities. This is why mult…
Efficient Gas Source Localization (GSL) in real-world settings is crucial, especially in emergency scenarios. Mobile robots equipped with low-cost, in-situ gas sensors offer a safer alternative to human inspection in hazardous environments. Probabilistic algorithms enhance GSL efficiency with scatte…
Localizing gas sources is a challenging task due to the complex nature of gas dispersion. Informative Path Planning (IPP) plays a crucial role in guiding robots to sample at high-information positions, thereby accelerating the estimation process. Existing probabilistic gas source localization method
Gas emissions play a crucial role in many environmental and industrial processes, driving a growing effort to understand their dispersion in air. Nonetheless, gas distribution mapping is inherently challenging due to the complex interplay between gas diffusion and wind flows. Mobile robots provide a
This work focuses on understanding and identifying the drag forces applied to a rotary-wing Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV). We propose a lumped drag model that concisely describes the aerodynamical forces the MAV is subject to, with a minimal set of parameters. We only rely on commonly available sensor…
Given the patchy nature of gas plumes and the slow response of conventional gas sensors, the use of mobile robots for Gas Source Localization (GSL) tasks presents significant challenges. These aspects increase the difficulties in obtaining gas measurements, encompassing both qualitative and quantita…
Environmental monitoring and mapping operations are an essential tool to combat climate change. An important branch of this domain concerns the construction of reliable gas maps. Adaptive navigation strategies coupled with multi-robot systems improve the outcome of an environmental mapping mission b…
The deployment of robots for Gas Source Localization (GSL) tasks in hazardous scenarios significantly reduces the risk to humans and animals. Gas sensing using mobile robots focuses primarily on simplified scenarios, due to the complexity of gas dispersion, with a current trend towards tackling more…
Chemical gas dispersion can represent a severe threat to human and animal lives, as well as to the environment. Constructing a map of the distribution of gas in a fast and reliable manner is critical to ensure accurate monitoring of at-risk facilities and coordinate targeted and swift rescue mission
Chemical gas dispersion poses considerable threat to humans, animals and the environment. The research areas of gas source localization and gas distribution mapping aim to localize the source of gas leaks and map the gas plume respectively, in order to help the coordination of swift rescue missions.…
Automatic control design for robotic systems is becoming more and more popular. However, this usually involves a significant computational cost, due to the expensive and noisy evaluation of candidate solutions through high-fidelity simulation or even real hardware. This work aims at reducing the com…
Accurate localization is one of the biggest challenges in underwater robotics. The primary reasons behind that are unavailability of satellite-based positioning below the surface, and lack of clear features in natural water bodies for visually aided localization. As such, the common method of choice…
One of the main challenges in underwater robot localization is the scarcity of external positioning references. Therefore, accurate inertial localization in between external position updates is crucial for applications such as underwater environmental sampling. In this paper, we present a framework…
Finding chemical compounds in the air has applications when situations such as gas leaks, environmental emergencies and toxic chemical dispersion occur. Enabling robots to undertake this task would provide a powerful tool to prevent dangerous situations and assist humans when emergencies arise. Whil…
Finding sources of airborne chemicals with mobile sensing systems finds applications in safety, security, and emergency situations related to medical, domestic, and environmental domains. Given the often critical nature of all the applications, it is important to reduce the amount of time necessary…
In this letter, we propose an adaptive risk-based replanning strategy in the context of multirobot task allocation for dealing with limitations of local perception and unpredicted human behavior. Our replanning method is based on the variations of social risk and human motion prediction uncertainty.
Finding sources of airborne chemicals with mobile sensing systems finds applications across the security, safety, domestic, medical, and environmental domains. In this paper, we present an algorithm based on source term estimation for odor source localization that is coupled with a navigation method…
Water as a medium poses a number of challenges for robots, limiting the progress of research in underwater robotics vis-á-vis ground or aerial robotics. The primary challenges are satellite based positioning and radio communication being unusable due to high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in w…
Applications of robots for gathering data in underwater environments has been limited due to the challenges posed by the medium. We have developed a miniature, agile, easy to carry and deploy Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a suite of sensors for underwater environmental sensing. W…
In this paper we tackle the problem of finding the source of a gaseous leak with a robot in a three-dimensional (3-D) physical space. The proposed method extends the operational range of the probabilistic Infotaxis algorithm [1] into 3-D and makes multiple improvements in order to increase its perfo…
This work addresses multi-robot coordination in social human-populated environments using a market-based framework for solving the Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) problem. Humans are considered in the proposed coordination mechanism by means of accounting for social costs in bid evaluations and r…
In this paper, we propose a risk-based coordination method for the Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) problem in human-populated environments. We introduce risk-based bids that incorporate human trajectory prediction uncertainties and furthermore, social costs in their formulation. We demonstrate th…
Social norms are the understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society. As such, they regulate communication, cooperation and other social interactions. Robots capable of reasoning about social norms are more likely to be recognized as an extension of our human society. However, norms…
Finding the source of gaseous compounds released in the air with robots finds several applications in various critical situations, such as search and rescue. While the distribution of gas in the air is inherently a 3D phenomenon, most of the previous works have downgraded the problem into 2D search,…
Odor source localization with mobile robots has recently been subject to many research works, but remains a challenging task mainly due to the large number of environmental parameters that make it hard to describe gas concentration fields. We designed a new algorithm called Adaptive Lévy Taxis (ALT)…
Collision avoidance, in particular between robots, is an important component for autonomous robots. It is a necessary component in numerous applications such as humanrobot interaction, automotive or unmanned aerial vehicles. While many collision avoidance algorithms take into account actuation const…
This work focuses on multi-robot coordination based on the Hoplites framework for solving the Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) problem. In particular, we investigate three variations of increasing complexity for the MRTA problem: spatial task allocation based on distance, spatial task allocation b…
Persistent coverage aims to maintain a certain coverage level over time in an environment where such level deteriorates. This level can be associated to temperature, dust or sensor information. We propose an algorithmic solution in which each robot locally finds the best paths and coverage actions t…
Creating accurate models of stochastically self-assembling systems is a key step in developing control strategies, centralized or distributed, for the self-assembly process. This paper comparatively studies several aspects of developing probabilistic models for programmable self-assembling systems o…
This paper focuses on a real system implementation, analysis, and evaluation of a cooperative sensor fusion algorithm based on a Gaussian Mixture Probability Hypothesis Density (GM-PHD) filter, using simulated and real vehicles endowed with automotive-grade sensors. We have extended our previously p…
Several self-assembly systems have been developed in recent years, where depending on the capabilities of the building blocks and the controlability of the environment, the assembly process is guided typically through either a fully centralized or a fully distributed control approach. In this work,…
The remarkable accessibility of modern flying robots makes them an attractive platform for environmental sensing. However, low cost and ease of use are currently incompatible with large payloads, severely limiting the choice of sensor and ultimately modality. This paper describes the design of a sys
Multi-robot cooperative navigation in real-world environments is essential in many applications, including surveillance and search-and-rescue missions. State-of-the-art methods for cooperative navigation are often tested in ideal laboratory conditions and not ready to be deployed in real-world envir…
This work proposes a novel relative localization system, based on active markers and an on-board camera, for tracking multiple quadrotors in a limited field of view. The system extracts the 3D poses of the markers including one that, by pulsating at a predefined frequency, provides an unique platfor
The large number of potential applications for robotic odor source localization has motivated the development of a variety of plume tracking algorithms, the majority of which work in restricted two-dimensional scenarios. In this paper, we introduce a distributed algorithm for 3-D plume tracking usin…
We propose an approach for on-line detection of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and estimation of their relative positions and velocities in the 3D environment from a single moving camera in the context of sense and avoid systems. This problem is challenging both from a detection point of view…
Robotic odor source localization is a promising tool with numerous applications in safety, search and rescue, and environmental science. In this paper, we present an algorithm for odor source localization using multiple cooperating robots equipped with chemical sensors. Laplacian feedback is employe…
Population-based learning techniques have been proven to be effective in dealing with noise in numerical benchmark functions and are thus promising tools for the high-dimensional optimization of controllers for multiple robots with limited sensing capabilities, which have inherently noisy performanc…
In this work, we present the SmartBridge, a novel bridge section model equipped with actively controlled arrays of flaps aiming at mitigating wind-induced vibrations of long-span bridges. The active model, as well as its support structure, is described in detail and the key design choices are motiva…
In this article we address the automatic synthesis of controllers for the coordinated movement of multiple mobile robots, as a canonical example of cooperative robotic behavior. We use five distributed noise-resistant variations of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to learn in simulation a set of 50…
In this work, we investigate active flutter control of a bridge section model equipped with arrays of flaps. We consider three simple control algorithms based on an amplitude-gain and a phase-shift for actuating the flaps and stabilizing the section model. We have leveraged a linear analytical model…
Fluid-mediated programmable stochastic self-assembly offers promising means to formation of target structures capable of a variety of functionalities. While miniaturized building blocks allow for finer resolutions in such structures, as well as access to unconventional environments, they can only be…
In this paper we present a collision avoidance system based on visual detection. Our hardware consists of a Hummingbird quadrotor equipped with a large red marker with two built-in fish-eye cameras. Fusion of the measurements from the two cameras is done using a Gaussian-mixture probability hypothes…