Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These

Phd by thesis

Planning algorithms are impacting technical disciplines and industries around the world, including robotics, computer-aided design, manufacturing, computer graphics, aerospace applications, drug design, and protein folding. This coherent and comprehensive book unifies material from several sources, including robotics, control theory, artificial intelligence, and algorithms. The treatment is centered on robot motion planning but integrates material on planning in discrete spaces. A major part of the book is devoted to planning under uncertainty, including decision theory, Markov decision processes, and information spaces, which are the “configuration spaces” of all sensor-based planning problems. The last part of the book delves into planning under differential constraints that arise when automating the motions of virtually any mechanical system. Developed from courses taught by the author, the book is intended for students, engineers, and researchers in robotics, artificial intelligence, and control theory as well as computer graphics, algorithms, and computational biology.

Planning Algorithms: Introductory Material

Humans perceive the three-dimensional structure of the world with apparent ease. However, despite all of the recent advances in computer vision research, the dream of having a computer interpret an image at the same level as a two-year old remains elusive. Why is computer vision such a challenging problem and what is the current state of the art? Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications explores the variety of techniques commonly used to analyze and interpret images. It also describes challenging real-world applications where vision is being successfully used, both for specialized applications such as medical imaging, and for fun, consumer-level tasks such as image editing and stitching, which students can apply to their own personal photos and videos. More than just a source of recipes, this exceptionally authoritative and comprehensive textbook/reference also takes a scientific approach to basic vision problems, formulating physical models of the imaging process before inverting them to produce descriptions of a scene. These problems are also analyzed using statistical models and solved using rigorous engineering techniques Topics and features: structured to support active curricula and project-oriented courses, with tips in the Introduction for using the book in a variety of customized courses; presents exercises at the end of each chapter with a heavy emphasis on testing algorithms and containing numerous suggestions for small mid-term projects; provides additional material and more detailed mathematical topics in the Appendices, which cover linear algebra, numerical techniques, and Bayesian estimation theory; suggests additional reading at the end of each chapter, including the latest research in each sub-field, in addition to a full Bibliography at the end of the book; supplies supplementary course material for students at the associated website, http://szeliski.org/Book/. Suitable for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course in computer science or engineering, this textbook focuses on basic techniques that work under real-world conditions and encourages students to push their creative boundaries. Its design and exposition also make it eminently suitable as a unique reference to the fundamental techniques and current research literature in computer vision.

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Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications

We present a real-time algorithm which can recover the 3D trajectory of a monocular camera, moving rapidly through a previously unknown scene. Our system, which we dub MonoSLAM, is the first successful application of the SLAM methodology from mobile robotics to the "pure vision" domain of a single uncontrolled camera, achieving real time but drift-free performance inaccessible to structure from motion approaches. The core of the approach is the online creation of a sparse but persistent map of natural landmarks within a probabilistic framework. Our key novel contributions include an active approach to mapping and measurement, the use of a general motion model for smooth camera movement, and solutions for monocular feature initialization and feature orientation estimation. Together, these add up to an extremely efficient and robust algorithm which runs at 30 Hz with standard PC and camera hardware. This work extends the range of robotic systems in which SLAM can be usefully applied, but also opens up new areas. We present applications of MonoSLAM to real-time 3D localization and mapping for a high-performance full-size humanoid robot and live augmented reality with a hand-held camera

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MonoSLAM: Real-Time Single Camera SLAM

This paper describes the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem and the essential methods for solving the SLAM problem and summarizes key implementations and demonstrations of the method. While there are still many practical issues to overcome, especially in more complex outdoor environments, the general SLAM method is now a well understood and established part of robotics. Another part of the tutorial summarized more recent works in addressing some of the remaining issues in SLAM, including computation, feature representation, and data association

/pdf/simultaneous-localization-and-mapping-part-i-22ofxwafhj.pdf

Simultaneous localization and mapping: part I

: For orthogonally-decoupled machines, such as the AMBLER, power efficiency is contingent upon keeping the body level. There are several ways of accomplishing this, which trade-off approximations of the complete phenomena versus simplicity of the implementation. In this report the effectiveness of four different strategies are evaluated for body attitude control. One of these uses vertical actuations to level the body ignoring the secondary geometric effects. Two alternate methods actuate only the vertical axes, but additionally utilize part of the horizontal kinematic information to calculate the required vertical displacements. Another method actuates both the horizontal and vertical joints in order to obtain ideally correct kinematic motion, but at the cost of higher energy expenditure. In this document the simulation of these methods and their implementation on the AMBLER are reported. This research shows that leveling methods that use only the vertical axes are most appropriate. The Simple Z-axes leveling method works satisfactorily to level using only six concurrent motions, ignoring the complexity of higher order kinematic calculations. The Z-axes method that is derived from the All-axes method has the consequence that the body drops when these equations are used to tilt the body. The Isoaltitude method performs slightly better than the Simple Z-axes method, by maintaining constant body height during both leveling and tilting maneuvers.

Leveling of the AMBLER Walking Machine: A Comparison of Methods.

The NASA exploration vision calls for extended human presence at lunar outposts within the coming decades. Any permanent outpost requires a significant amount of infrastructure and a cost-effective way of preparing this infrastructure is to utilize native materials such as regolith and rocks inherently present. This work investigates techniques for excavating, transporting, and building up regolith in the context of berm building, surface stabilization, and other critical tasks using small (100 kg to 300 kg) robots. Terrestrial excavation techniques and machines are reviewed. REMOTE (the Regolith Excavation MObility & Tooling Environment), a simulated task model that accounts for the special requirements of excavating in the harsh lunar environment, is presented. The model is used to quantitatively compare excavation systems according to key metrics including production ratio. It is shown that the teleoperated lunar berm construction robots achieve a production ratio less than 1/10th that of commercial equipment employed in terrestrial construction. A preliminary sensitivity analysis shows that these results are affected by the operating velocity as well as excavation blade design. A prototype of a rock rake for soil stabilization is also demonstrated. The goal of this work is to arrive at innovative robotic approaches that are best suited for excavation and infrastructure preparation tasks on the moon.

/pdf/configuring-innovative-regolith-moving-techniques-for-lunar-13bhks7voe.pdf

Configuring innovative regolith moving techniques for lunar outposts

A Case Study in Robotic Mapping of Abandoned Mines.

Robotic tasks call for a range of steering activity: one extreme is highway driving with negligible turning for hundreds of kilometers; another is forklift handling, which calls for agile turning. Steady state turning of a wheeled vehicle on natural terrain with slow but capable locomotors characteristic
of planetary robotic vehicles is the scope of this research.

Two tire designs were developed, implemented and evaluated
aboard the Nomad robot, enabling a comparative study of their effect on mobility and steering. Rigid tires, utilized on
desert terrain, are relevant to planetary exploration where elastomeric tires are inappropriate. Pneumatic tires, specialized
for Antarctic terrain, achieved performance advantages on ice. The research presented here investigates the collateral issues of steering and mobility for the two tire designs.

Experiments involve a single robot that can exhibit both skid and explicit steering while driving in steady state circles on gravel terrain. Skid steering is accomplished through the creation of a differential velocity between the inner and outer wheels. In explicit steering, a change in the heading of the
wheels causes a modification to the vehicle heading. Power draw, individual wheel torque, and position data have been
gathered for the purpose of quantifying performance.

The experimental results show that power and torque for skid and explicit turning degenerate to equal values at infinite
radius (straight driving). As the turn radius decreases from that of straight driving to that of a point turn, greater power and torque are necessary as larger slip angles are induced.

In the limiting case of a point turn, with both rigid and pneumatic tires, the power for skid steering is on the order of
double that of an explicit point turn. For explicit steering, with
turns greater than a radius of 4 m, the pneumatic tires exhibit
a lower power draw than rigid tires.

/pdf/effect-of-tire-design-and-steering-mode-on-robotic-mobility-4ex0nikuqw.pdf

Effect of Tire Design and Steering Mode on Robotic Mobility in Barren Terrain

Aim To explore whether there are social inequalities in non-diabetic hyperglycaemia (NDH) and in transitions to type 2 diabetes mellitus and NDH low-risk status in England. Methods Some 9143 men and women aged over 50 years were analysed from waves 2, 4, 6 and 8 (2004-2016) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Participants were categorized as: NDH 'low-risk' [HbA1c 47 mmol/mol (> 6.4%)]. Logistic regression models estimated the association between sociodemographic characteristics and NDH, and the transitions from NDH to diagnosed or undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and low-risk status in future waves. Results NDH was more prevalent in older participants, those reporting a disability, those living in deprived areas and in more disadvantaged social classes. Older participants with NDH were less likely to progress to undiagnosed type 2 diabetes [odds ratio (OR) 0.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08, 0.96]. NDH individuals with limiting long-standing illness (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.16, 2.53), who were economically inactive (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.02, 2.51) or from disadvantaged social classes (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.02, 2.61) were more likely to progress to type 2 diabetes. Socially disadvantaged individuals were less likely (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.41, 0.98) to progress to NDH low-risk status. Conclusions There were socio-economic differences in NDH prevalence, transition to type 2 diabetes and transition to NDH low-risk status. Disparities in transitions included the greater likelihood of disadvantaged social groups with NDH developing type 2 diabetes and greater likelihood of advantaged social groups with NDH becoming low-risk. These socio-economic differences should be taken into account when targeting prevention initiatives.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/dme.14343

Sociodemographic disparities in non-diabetic hyperglycaemia and the transition to type 2 diabetes: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

William Whittaker

Papers

Leveling of the AMBLER Walking Machine: A Comparison of Methods.

Configuring innovative regolith moving techniques for lunar outposts

A Case Study in Robotic Mapping of Abandoned Mines.

Effect of Tire Design and Steering Mode on Robotic Mobility in Barren Terrain

Sociodemographic disparities in non-diabetic hyperglycaemia and the transition to type 2 diabetes: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.