20 accepted papers
This paper introduces a novel automatic coverage path planning algorithm for bathymetry surveying with unmanned surface vehicles. The detection range of the mapping sensor employed -- a multibeam echo sounder -- is heavily influenced by local seafloor depths. Hence, a path designed to uniformly cove…
A generalised solver for the manipulator non-revisiting coverage path planning (NCPP) problem is proposed in this paper. Nonlinear manipulator kinematics and the imposition of task-specific constraints dictate that applying conventional coverage path planning (CPP) solutions based on 2D template mat…
A predictive model for mobility systems capable of understanding the trajectory a user intends to follow in the environment is proposed. Understanding user intention is paramount for any shared-control navigation strategy between a user and an active robotic agent. Equally important however is being…
A multi-modal framework to generate user intention distributions when operating a mobile vehicle is proposed in this work. The model learns from past observed trajectories and leverages traversability information derived from the visual surroundings to produce a set of future trajectories, suitable…
This work considers the optimal non-revisiting coverage tasks with a single non-redundant manipulator for the case when the object can be positioned at a predefined set of locations within the workcell. The scenario is often encountered in typical industrial settings, for instance when the object pr…
A theoretically complete solution to the optimal Non-revisiting Coverage Path Planning (NCPP) problem of any arbitrarily-shaped object with a non-redundant manipulator is proposed in this work. Given topological graphs of surface cells corresponding to feasible and continuous manipulator configurati…
Knowing the geometry of a space is desirable for many applications, e.g. sound source localization, sound field reproduction or auralization. In circumstances where only acoustic signals can be obtained, estimating the geometry of a room is a challenging proposition. Existing methods have been propo…
This paper presents a control architecture readily suitable for surface treatment tasks such as polishing, grinding, finishing or deburring as carried out by a human operator, with the added benefit of accuracy, recurrence and physical strength as administered by a robotic manipulator partner. The s…
Building large-scale 2.5D maps when spatial correlations are considered can be quite expensive, but there are clear advantages when fusing data. While optimal submapping strategies have been explored previously in covariance-form using Gaussian Process for large-scale mapping, this paper focuses on…
In this paper, we propose a real-time classification scheme to cope with noisy Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurements utilized in indoor positioning systems. RSSI values are often converted to distances for position estimation. However due to multipathing and shadowing effects, finding…
Active assistive mobility systems are largely limited to a-priori mapped environments, whereas their reactive assistive counterparts are in general location independent and focus on the provision of collision avoidance in the immediate space surrounding the platform. This paper presents a framework…
Acquiring the accurate 3-D position of a target person around a robot provides fundamental and valuable information that is applicable to a wide range of robotic tasks, including home service, navigation and entertainment. This paper presents a real-time robotic 3-D human tracking system which combi…
In this paper, we present a method for real-time 3D sound sources mapping using an off-the-shelf robotic perception sensor equipped with a linear microphone array. Conventional approaches to map sound sources in 3D scenarios use dedicated 3D microphone arrays, as this type of arrays provide two degr…
This work exploits modeling spatial correlation in 2.5D data using Gaussian Processes (GPs), and produces constrained sampling realizations on these models to improve certainty in the predictions by means of integrating additional sparse information. Data organized in 2.5D such as elevation and thic…
This paper investigates sound source mapping in a real environment using a mobile robot. Our approach is based on audio ray tracing which integrates occupancy grids and sound source localization using a laser range finder and a microphone array. Previous audio ray tracing approaches rely on all obse…
In this paper, we propose a framework to map stationary sound sources while simultaneously localise a moving robot. Conventional methods for localisation and sound source mapping rely on a microphone array and either, 1) a proprioceptive sensor only (such as wheel odometry) or 2) an additional exter…
Typically 2.5D maps provide a compact and efficient representation of the environment. When sensor data is obtained from multiple sets of noisy measurements at differing resolutions, the problem of compounding this information together to provide an effective and efficient means of mapping is not tr…
An algorithm is proposed for matching data from different sensing modalities. The problem is formalised as a kidnapped robot problem, where Bayesian fusion is used to find the most likely location where both modalities agree. The key idea of our algorithm is to model the correlation between the two…
The problem of active perception with an autonomous robot is studied in this paper. It is proposed that the exploratory behavior of the robot be controlled using mutual information (MI) surfaces between the current map and a one-step look ahead measurements. MI surfaces highlight informative areas f…
In this paper, an approach for sound source localisation and calibration of an asynchronous microphone array is proposed to be solved simultaneously. A graph-based Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) method is used for this purpose. Traditional sound source localisation using a microphone a…