11 accepted papers
In the past decade, the adoption of compact 3D range sensors, such as LiDARs, has driven the developments of robust state-estimation pipelines, making them a standard sensor for aerial, ground, and space autonomy. Unfortunately, poor propagation of electromagnetic waves underwater, has limited the v…
Underwater navigation is an area of increasing research interest due to its fundamental complexity and industrial applications. However, due to convenience and current theoretical understanding, the vast majority of underwater platforms utilize thrusters, while other forms of propulsion, such as und
Robust underwater motion planning of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in dynamic cluttered environments is a problem that has yet to be addressed in depth. Due to advances in technology and computational capacity, AUVs are expected to operate safely and autonomously in increasingly challenging…
Motion planning for autonomous active perception in cluttered environments remains a challenging problem, requiring real-time solutions that both maximize safety and achieve a desired behavior. In dynamic underwater environments, such as in aquaculture operations, the robots are additionally expecte
Autonomous operation in underwater environ-ments is, arguably, one of the most complex domains. It requires safe operations under the presence of unpredictable surge, currents, uncertainty, and dynamic obstacles that challenges to the highest degree real-time motion planning; the primary focus of th…
In this paper we present a complete framework for Underwater SLAM utilizing a single inexpensive sensor. Over the recent years, imaging technology of action cameras is producing stunning results even under the challenging conditions of the underwater domain. The GoPro 9 camera provides high definiti…
Visual monitoring operations underwater require both observing the objects of interest in close-proximity, and tracking the few feature-rich areas necessary for state estimation. This paper introduces the first navigation framework, called AquaVis, that produces on-line visibility-aware motion plans…
In this paper, we propose a real-time deep learning approach for determining the 6D relative pose of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) from a single image. A team of autonomous robots localizing themselves in a communication-constrained underwater environment is essential for many applications su…
Navigation underwater traditionally is done by keeping a safe distance from obstacles, resulting in "fly-overs" of the area of interest. Movement of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) through a cluttered space, such as a shipwreck or a decorated cave, is an extremely challenging problem that has…
A plethora of state estimation techniques have appeared in the last decade using visual data, and more recently with added inertial data. Datasets typically used for evaluation include indoor and urban environments, where supporting videos have shown impressive performance. However, such techniques…
This paper addresses the problem of robot global localization in a known environment, in the presence of many dynamic obstacles. Deploying a robot in crowded spaces such as museums, shopping malls, department stores, or university campuses is especially challenging because the moving people occlude…