scholarly journals Distributed Multirobot Exploration Based on Scene Partitioning and Frontier Selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose J. Lopez-Perez ◽  
Uriel H. Hernandez-Belmonte ◽  
Juan-Pablo Ramirez-Paredes ◽  
Marco A. Contreras-Cruz ◽  
Victor Ayala-Ramirez

In mobile robotics, the exploration task consists of navigating through an unknown environment and building a representation of it. The mobile robot community has developed many approaches to solve this problem. These methods are mainly based on two key ideas. The first one is the selection of promising regions to explore and the second is the minimization of a cost function involving the distance traveled by the robots, the time it takes for them to finish the exploration, and others. An option to solve the exploration problem is the use of multiple robots to reduce the time needed for the task and to add fault tolerance to the system. We propose a new method to explore unknown areas, by using a scene partitioning scheme and assigning weights to the frontiers between explored and unknown areas. Energy consumption is always a concern during the exploration, for this reason our method is a distributed algorithm, which helps to reduce the number of communications between robots. By using this approach, we also effectively reduce the time needed to explore unknown regions and the distance traveled by each robot. We performed comparisons of our approach with state-of-the-art methods, obtaining a visible advantage over other works.

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 920
Author(s):  
Liesle Caballero ◽  
Álvaro Perafan ◽  
Martha Rinaldy ◽  
Winston Percybrooks

This paper deals with the problem of determining a useful energy budget for a mobile robot in a given environment without having to carry out experimental measures for every possible exploration task. The proposed solution uses machine learning models trained on a subset of possible exploration tasks but able to make predictions on untested scenarios. Additionally, the proposed model does not use any kinematic or dynamic models of the robot, which are not always available. The method is based on a neural network with hyperparameter optimization to improve performance. Tabu List optimization strategy is used to determine the hyperparameter values (number of layers and number of neurons per layer) that minimize the percentage relative absolute error (%RAE) while maximize the Pearson correlation coefficient (R) between predicted data and actual data measured under a number of experimental conditions. Once the optimized artificial neural network is trained, it can be used to predict the performance of an exploration algorithm on arbitrary variations of a grid map scenario. Based on such prediction, it is possible to know the energy needed for the robot to complete the exploration task. A total of 128 tests were carried out using a robot executing two exploration algorithms in a grid map with the objective of locating a target whose location is not known a priori by the robot. The experimental energy consumption was measured and compared with the prediction of our model. A success rate of 96.093% was obtained, measured as the percentage of tests where the energy budget suggested by the model was enough to actually carry out the task when compared to the actual energy consumed in the test, suggesting that the proposed model could be useful for energy budgeting in actual mobile robot applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-70
Author(s):  
Edwin Leonel Álvarez - Gutiérrez ◽  
Fabián Rolando Jiménez - López

One of the topics of greatest attention in mobile robotics is related to the location and mapping of a robot in a given environment and the other, associated with the selection of the devices or sensors necessary to acquire as much external information as possible for the generation of a global map. The purpose of this article is to propose the integration between a caterpillar-type land mobile robot, SLAM tasks with LiDAR devices and the use of stereo vision through the ZED camera for the generation of a 2D global map and the tracking of the movement of the mobile robot using the MATLAB® software. The experiment consists of performing different detection tests to determine distances and track the position of mobile robot in a structured environment indoors, to observe the behavior of the mobile platform and determine the error in the measurements. The results obtained show that the integrated devices satisfactorily fulfill the tasks established in controlled conditions and in indoor environments, obtaining error percentages lower than 1 and 4% for the case of the LiDAR and the ZED camera respectively. An alternative was developed that solves one of the most common problems of mobile robotics in recent years and, additionally, this solution allows the possibility of merging other types of sensors such as inertial systems, encoders, GPS, among others, in order to improve the applications in the area and the quality of the information acquired from abroad.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Payá ◽  
A. Gil ◽  
O. Reinoso

Nowadays, the field of mobile robotics is experiencing a quick evolution, and a variety of autonomous vehicles is available to solve different tasks. The advances in computer vision have led to a substantial increase in the use of cameras as the main sensors in mobile robots. They can be used as the only source of information or in combination with other sensors such as odometry or laser. Among vision systems, omnidirectional sensors stand out due to the richness of the information they provide the robot with, and an increasing number of works about them have been published over the last few years, leading to a wide variety of frameworks. In this review, some of the most important works are analysed. One of the key problems the scientific community is addressing currently is the improvement of the autonomy of mobile robots. To this end, building robust models of the environment and solving the localization and navigation problems are three important abilities that any mobile robot must have. Taking it into account, the review concentrates on these problems; how researchers have addressed them by means of omnidirectional vision; the main frameworks they have proposed; and how they have evolved in recent years.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 172988141666366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuanbo Yan ◽  
Tao Zhang

Multi-robot with advantages of spatial distribution and fault tolerance is competent for patrol missions and has the potential to be used in security and surveillance applications. This article focuses on the frequency-based patrol designed to guarantee the frequent access to key positions in the environment. A distributed algorithm based on expected idleness is proposed, aiming to promote the efficiency of cooperation, which remains to be fault tolerant and scalable. The expected idleness is estimated with information shared between robots and utilized to avoid conflicts in the decision process. Comparisons with state-of-the-art algorithms have been conducted in a realistic simulator, Stage; moreover, the fault tolerance and scalability have also been tested. Experiments on real robots have further verified the applicability of the proposed algorithm.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1800
Author(s):  
Linfei Hou ◽  
Fengyu Zhou ◽  
Kiwan Kim ◽  
Liang Zhang

The four-wheeled Mecanum robot is widely used in various industries due to its maneuverability and strong load capacity, which is suitable for performing precise transportation tasks in a narrow environment. While the Mecanum wheel robot has mobility, it also consumes more energy than ordinary robots. The power consumed by the Mecanum wheel mobile robot varies enormously depending on their operating regimes and environments. Therefore, only knowing the working environment of the robot and the accurate power consumption model can we accurately predict the power consumption of the robot. In order to increase the applicable scenarios of energy consumption modeling for Mecanum wheel robots and improve the accuracy of energy consumption modeling, this paper focuses on various factors that affect the energy consumption of the Mecanum wheel robot, such as motor temperature, terrain, the center of gravity position, etc. The model is derived from the kinematic and kinetic model combined with electrical engineering and energy flow principles. The model has been simulated in MATLAB and experimentally validated with the four-wheeled Mecanum robot platform in our lab. Experimental results show that the accuracy of the model reached 95%. The results of energy consumption modeling can help robots save energy by helping them to perform rational path planning and task planning.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Alejandro Humberto García Ruiz ◽  
Salvador Ibarra Martínez ◽  
José Antonio Castán Rocha ◽  
Jesús David Terán Villanueva ◽  
Julio Laria Menchaca ◽  
...  

Electricity is one of the most important resources for the growth and sustainability of the population. This paper assesses the energy consumption and user satisfaction of a simulated air conditioning system controlled with two different optimization algorithms. The algorithms are a genetic algorithm (GA), implemented from the state of the art, and a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) proposed in this paper; these algorithms control an air conditioning system considering user preferences. It is worth noting that we made several modifications to the objective function’s definition to make it more robust. The energy-saving optimization is essential to reduce CO2 emissions and economic costs; on the other hand, it is desirable for the user to feel comfortable, yet it will entail a higher energy consumption. Thus, we integrate user preferences with energy-saving on a single weighted function and a Pareto bi-objective problem to increase user satisfaction and decrease electrical energy consumption. To assess the experimentation, we constructed a simulator by training a backpropagation neural network with real data from a laboratory’s air conditioning system. According to the results, we conclude that NSGA II provides better results than the state of the art (GA) regarding user preferences and energy-saving.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026553222110361
Author(s):  
Chao Han

Over the past decade, testing and assessing spoken-language interpreting has garnered an increasing amount of attention from stakeholders in interpreter education, professional certification, and interpreting research. This is because in these fields assessment results provide a critical evidential basis for high-stakes decisions, such as the selection of prospective students, the certification of interpreters, and the confirmation/refutation of research hypotheses. However, few reviews exist providing a comprehensive mapping of relevant practice and research. The present article therefore aims to offer a state-of-the-art review, summarizing the existing literature and discovering potential lacunae. In particular, the article first provides an overview of interpreting ability/competence and relevant research, followed by main testing and assessment practice (e.g., assessment tasks, assessment criteria, scoring methods, specificities of scoring operationalization), with a focus on operational diversity and psychometric properties. Second, the review describes a limited yet steadily growing body of empirical research that examines rater-mediated interpreting assessment, and casts light on automatic assessment as an emerging research topic. Third, the review discusses epistemological, psychometric, and practical challenges facing interpreting testers. Finally, it identifies future directions that could address the challenges arising from fast-changing pedagogical, educational, and professional landscapes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saba Moeinizade ◽  
Ye Han ◽  
Hieu Pham ◽  
Guiping Hu ◽  
Lizhi Wang

AbstractMultiple trait introgression is the process by which multiple desirable traits are converted from a donor to a recipient cultivar through backcrossing and selfing. The goal of this procedure is to recover all the attributes of the recipient cultivar, with the addition of the specified desirable traits. A crucial step in this process is the selection of parents to form new crosses. In this study, we propose a new selection approach that estimates the genetic distribution of the progeny of backcrosses after multiple generations using information of recombination events. Our objective is to select the most promising individuals for further backcrossing or selfing. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a case study has been conducted using maize data where our method is compared with state-of-the-art approaches. Simulation results suggest that the proposed method, look-ahead Monte Carlo, achieves higher probability of success than existing approaches. Our proposed selection method can assist breeders to efficiently design trait introgression projects.


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