Showing papers presented at "Field and Service Robotics in 2009"

Pedestrian Detection and Tracking Using Three-Dimensional LADAR Data.

Abstract: The approach investigated in this work employs three-dimensional LADAR measurement to detect and track pedestrians over time. The sensor is employed on a moving vehicle. The algorithm quickly detects the objects which have the potential of being humans using a subset of these points, and then classifies each object using statistical pattern recognition techniques. The algorithm uses geometric and motion features to recognize human signatures. The perceptual capabilities described form the basis for safe and robust navigation in autonomous vehicles, necessary to safeguard pedestrians operating in the vicinity of a moving robotic vehicle.

Multiclass Multimodal Detection and Tracking in Urban Environments

Abstract: This paper presents a novel approach to detect and track people and cars based on the combined information retrieved from a camera and a laser range scanner. Laser data points are classified by using boosted Conditional Random Fields, while the image based detector uses an extension of the Implicit Shape Model (ISM), which learns a codebook of local descriptors from a set of hand-labeled images and uses them to vote for centers of detected objects. Our extensions to ISM include the learning of object parts and template masks to obtain more distinctive votes for the particular object classes. The detections from both sensors are then fused and the objects are tracked using a Kalman Filter with multiple motion models. Experiments conducted in real-world urban scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Paternal Influences on Daughters’ Heterosexual Relationship Socialization: Attachment Style and Disposition toward Marriage

Abstract: A common perception is that fathers play an important, if not distinct, role in influencing their young daughters’ future, heterosexual relationships, though the means by which paternal influence and relational outcomes are linked is unclear. The current study explores associations between positive paternal influences (paternal support, a father’s treatment of the daughter’s mother) and attachment styles and dispositions toward marriage (beliefs, attitudes, intentions) of young adult women, with emphasis on unique associations for the father-daughter dyad compared to other parent-child pairings. A multivariate multiple regression and follow-up regression models yielded some but limited support for unique associations between fathers and daughters. Especially apparent, however, was the tendency for a daughter to be attracted to relationship partners who reminded her of her father when she reported higher levels of positive paternal influences from her childhood. A growing body of research has demonstrated that having a present, involved, and caring father corresponds with a variety of healthy outcomes for children (see reviews by Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, Lamb, 2000; Pleck & Masciadrelli, 2004). Some outcomes may vary depending on the gender of a child in that fathers tend to interact with or differentially influence male and female children in distinct ways (Noller & Fitzpatrick, 1993; Lovas, 2005; Nielsen, 2007; Pleck & Masciadrelli, 2004; Updegraff, McHale, Crouter, & Kupanoff, 2001). This research typically reveals that fathers have less direct, intense, and physical involvement with girls than boys. Furthermore, research specific to daughters’ outcomes has been dominated by a focus on sexually abusive and otherwise negative relationships (Morgan, Wilcoxon, & Satcher, 2003; Nielsen, 2005), thus limiting understanding of healthy father-daughter interaction. A major theoretical emphasis within the father-daughter literature has been the role a father plays for his daughter’s future heterosexual, romantic relationships (e.g., Goulter & Minninger, 1993; Kavaler, 1988; Williamson, 2004). Within such literature, it is commonly suspected that daughters generalize their experiences with their fathers to boys and men as potential romantic partners and husbands. This assertion is generally more speculative than empirical, and the exact means by which this generalization process occurs are not clear. If indeed fathers play a critical role in the future marital success of their daughters, understanding this role—in light of contemporary societal concerns about high divorce rates and subsequent family instability—may enhance efforts toward encouraging effective premarital preparation. Such an understanding may also contribute to efforts aimed at developing and improving parenting interventions that seek to deter the intergenerational transmission of family dysfunction. The purpose of the current study was to further the investigation of how childhood paternal influences relate to future marital success of daughters. Specifically, it focused on daughters’ attachment styles and on several key beliefs/attitudes/intentions (disposition for short) relevant to an eventual marital relationship of young, single adult daughters. Direct correspondence to Dr. Scott Hall at Ball State University, AT 150, Muncie, IN 47306, Tele: 765-285-5943, E-mail: sshall@bsu.edu, Fax: 765-285-2314 Paternal Influences 2 Review of Literature Paternal involvement literature has focused on the variety of ways that fathers interact with their daughters that yield positive child outcomes. Paternal support as been associated with lower levels/degrees of negative outcomes, such as childhood depression (Dubowitz et al., 2001), distress (Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1990), delinquency (Kosterman, Haggerty, Spoth, & Redmond, 2004), and early onset of sexual behavior (Regnerus & Luchies, 2006) during adolescence, and emotional hostility during young adulthood (Nicholas & Bieber, 1996). However, relatively little research has specifically focused on long-term effects of the fatherdaughter relationship on daughters’ future outcomes (Morgan et al., 2003; Perkins, 2001). Romantic relationship socialization. There are reasons to suspect that fathers can make an important contribution to the eventual romantic relationships of their daughters, and that it is different from the contribution of mothers, and different from fathers’ contributions to their sons. As noted, there is a tendency for mothers and fathers to interact in some distinct ways with their daughters. It is possible that because of this tendency fathers are particularly salient for specific domains of their daughters’ development (Laible, Carlo, & Raffaelli, 2004). Gender may also influence the roles and type of interaction in the home that can shape unique father-daughter relationship characteristics (Russell & Saebel, 1997). For example, in predicting a child’s selfesteem, physical affection from fathers mattered much more for daughters’ outcomes than for sons’ (Barber & Thomas, 1986; Duncan, Hill, & Jeung, 1996). Similarly, spending time with their fathers was strongly related to school-aged girls’ feelings of closeness with their fathers, but that was much less the case for boys (Crouter & Crowley, 1990). Prosocial parenting from fathers predicted less childhood delinquency by daughters—but comparable maternal influences were not associated with this outcome (Kosterman et al., 2004). Overall, these studies illustrate that fathers can serve some distinct functions in the lives of daughters, demonstrating the plausibility that fathers likewise contribute uniquely to their daughters’ eventual marital functioning. According to Reciprocal Role Theory (Johnson, 1975), daughters learn to behave in ways that complement a father’s masculine behavior, thus shaping their future behavior with other males. Paired with a Psychodynamic perspective, this socialization process would be especially salient for a daughter’s future relationships because her father is her “first love,” and she may even fantasize romantically about him (Freud, 1988; Williamson, 2004). Though relatively sparse, some research exists that is consistent with this reasoning. For example, adults have shown a tendency to select romantic partners with similar eye and hair colors as their opposite-sex parent (Little, Penton-Voak, Burt, & Perrett, 2003). Also, those born to older parents (age 30 or older) were more likely than those born to younger parents to find older faces of the opposite sex attractive, suggesting that childhood attraction to one’s opposite-sex parent (and thus the age of the face influencing what is perceived as attractive) may be generalized to potential relationship partners (Perrett et al., 2002). Additionally, women with more positive childhood relationships with their parents were more likely to identify stimulus faces as attractive that shared similar features with their own father’s features (Wiszewska, Pawlowski, & Boothroyd, 2007). Fathers may make a lasting impression on their daughters’ romantic preferences, though relatively little is known about what factors in the father-daughter relationship account for this connection. However, it is likely that more supportive and less abusive fathering nurture positive Paternal Influences 3 assumptions and expectations about relations with males, though this assertion has been made based more on anecdotes and clinical observations than empirical research (Perrett et al., 2002). In addition to the nature of relationship a daughter experiences with her father, what she observes about her father’s marriage-related behavior also may be influential on her future relationships. Consistent with Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), a father’s relationship with the daughter’s mother may model heterosexual interaction that the daughter accepts as normal or desirable (or undesirable) and then generalizes to future romantic relationships. Arguably, daughters would pay special attention to a father’s treatment of her mother to learn how good men treat a wife (Freud, 1988). A close look at the reviewed body of research reveals that parental marital characteristics have typically been measured as a dyadic unit (e.g., overall marital quality or conflict), without isolating a father’s treatment of the mother. Thus, potential specific associations between a father’s modeling of how to treat a wife and the daughter’s romantic relationship-related outcomes have typically been untested. From socialization to future relationships. Though fathers are arguably in a unique position to influence daughters’ heterosexual relationships, understanding how such influence transfers to the future relationships requires continued exploration (Mounts, 2008). One possible means for this transfer is through beliefs and assumptions daughters have about relationships (especially marriage). Studies show that unrealistic relationship beliefs relate to relational distress and dissatisfaction (Addis & Bernard, 2002; McNulty & Karney, 2004; Stackert & Bursik, 2003), as well as communication and conflict resolution behaviors within relationships (Bradbury & Fincham, 1993; Vangelisti & Alexander, 2002). Premarital literature has identified common expectations about getting married that could impact future marital adjustment. These include the belief that spouses are destined or meant for each other (Knee, 1998) and that couples should prove their relationship will work before marriage (Larson, 1992). These types of beliefs can be influenced by the nature of relationships in one’s family of origin (Hall, 2006; Weigel, 2007). Attitudes toward the importance of marriage are also influenced by what children experience and observe in the home (Musick & Bumpass, 1999; Riggio & Weisner, 2008). For reasons already discussed, fathers particularly would be influential on daughters’ overall disposition (beliefs,

Multi-Robot Fire Searching in Unknown Environment.

Abstract: Exploration of an unknown environment is a fundamental concern in mobile robotics. This paper presents an approach for cooperative multi-robot exploration, fire searching and mapping in an unknown environment. The proposed approach aims to minimize the overall exploration time, making it possible to locate fire sources in an efficient way. In order to achieve this goal, the robots cooperate in order to individually and simultaneously, explore different areas of the environment while they identify fire sources. The proposed approach employs a decentralized frontier based exploration method which evaluates the cost/gain ratio to navigate to target way-points. The target way-points are obtained by an A* search variant algorithm. The potential field method is used to control the robots’ motion while avoiding obstacles. When a robot detects a fire, it estimates the flame’s position by triangulation. The communication between the robots is done in a decentralized control manner where they share the necessary data to generate a map of the environment and to perform cooperative actions in a behavioral decision making way. This paper presents simulated and experimental results of the proposed exploration and fire search method and concludes with a discussion of the obtained results and future improvements.

Learning to Identify Users and Predict Their Destination in a Robotic Guidance Application

Abstract: User guidance systems are relevant to various applications of the service robotics field, among which: smart GPS navigator, robotic guides for museum or shopping malls or robotic wheel chairs for disabled persons. Such a system aims at helping its user to reach its destination in a fairly complex environment. If we assume the system is used in a fixed environment by multiple users for multiple navigation task over the course of days or weeks, then it is possible to take advantage of the user routine: from the initial navigational choice, users can be identified and their goal can be predicted. As a result of these prediction, the guidance system can bring its user to its destination while requiring less interaction. This property is particularly relevant for assisting disabled person for whom interaction is a long and complex task. In this paper, we implement a user guidance system using a dynamic Bayesian model and a topological representation of the environment. This model is evaluated with respect to the quality of its action prediction in a scenario involving 4 human users, and it is shown that in addition to the user identity, the goals and actions of the user are accurately predicted.

Scan-Point Planning and 3-D Map Building for a 3-D Laser Range Scanner in an Outdoor Environment.

Abstract: During search missions in disaster environments, an important task for mobile robots is map building. An advantage of three-dimensional (3-D) mapping is that it can provide depictions of disaster environments that will support robotic teleoperations used in locating victims and aid rescue crews in strategizing. However, the 3-D scanning of an environment is timeconsuming because a 3-D scanning procedure itself takes a time and scan data must be matched at several locations. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a scan-point planning algorithm to obtain a large scale 3-D map, and we apply a scan-matching method to improve the accuracy of the map. We discuss the use of scan-point planning to maintain the resolution of sensor data and to minimize occlusion areas. The scan-matching method is based on a combination of the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm and the Normal Distribution Transform (NDT) algorithm.We performed several experiments to verify the validity of our approach.

Economic Predictors of Marital Quality Among Newly Remarried Rural and Urban Couples

Abstract: Guided by family stress theory, this study compares newlywed samples of remarried couples from rural and urban areas. More than 900 men and 1,000 women in remarriages responded to questionnaires that assessed their economic pressures, family characteristics, and relationship quality. On socioeconomic characteristics, rural and urban couples differed. Urban couples were more educated, had smaller households, and had higher incomes. However, both samples reported high levels of satisfaction and low levels of relationship instability. Regression analyses identified gender differences in the economic predictors of relationship quality. For wives, both marital satisfaction and marital instability were predicted by financial concerns. For men, relationship outcomes were related to the ability to make ends meet. Material needs (having enough money to afford necessities) also predicted marital satisfaction for women, but not marital instability. Implications for family life education are provided. Family scholars have observed that couples experience diverse challenges based on different stages and types of marriage. For example, newlywed couples generally experience greater dyadic adjustment difficulties than do more-established marriages (Carrere, Buehlman, Gottman, Coan, & Ruckstuhl, 2000). Remarriages, especially those involving stepchildren, encounter additional relationship stress due to the complexities unique to stepfamily life (Ganong & Coleman, 2004). Previous research on marital quality in rural America has shown that rural couples, in general, exhibit decreased marital stability and satisfaction. These studies associate their findings with the economic pressures that are characteristic of rural areas (Conger et al., 1990, Conger & Elder, 1994). Collectively taking into account the literature on new marriages, remarriages, and rural marriages, we hypothesize that newly-remarried rural couples may experience considerable difficulties regarding marital satisfaction and instability. Specifically, using a sample of newly remarried couples from rural and urban areas, we investigate the rural influence of economic pressure upon self-reported marital instability and marital satisfaction. Several economic variables, which have been implicated in the extant literature as stressors in rural communities (i.e., financial pressure, income, family size, and education level) are examined in order to understand their influence on couples in this stage and type of marriage.

The practices, populations, and programs of parent educators in Tennessee

Abstract: This manuscript utilizes data from a telephone survey of 312 parent educators across the state of Tennessee to inform research and service efforts of a university-based parenting center. Specifically, we investigated (a) techniques used to disseminate parenting information, (b) specialized populations targeted, (c) curricula used as well as the evidentiary basis of those curricula, and (d) parent educator training and education, all at both state and within-state regional levels. Overall, results indicated that classes were generally available for individuals in various specialized populations, and a range of techniques were utilized to reach parents. Additionally, a variety of curricula were in use by relatively well-trained professionals. Results suggested several areas in which the resources of the university could be directed toward supporting the efforts of parenting educators in Tennessee. University faculty elsewhere are encouraged to similarly connect with front-line parent educators, gather data, and initiate services to help them help others.

It Takes a Village: Assets for Parent Education

Abstract: Social and cultural changes in the 21 st century have impacted the task of parenting, and in response to these challenges, the role of parent education has taken on increased importance. The National Extension has defined skills for effective parenting titled Parent Education Model of Critical Parenting Practices, which provide guidelines for educators. Search Institute has identified 40 developmental assets that all children and youth need to aid them in successfully navigating to adulthood. The theoretical question addressed in this paper is whether the Parent Education Model and Asset Development used together would enhance parent education. A review of the Parent Education Model and Asset Development, as well as results from two focus groups, informed the theoretical question. Implications for practice include curriculum suggestions for use in a variety of parent education, social service, and youth settings.

The Family Folklore Album: Using the Power of Stories to Engage Students in Family Science

Abstract: The Family Folklore Album project is a pedagogical tool in which students interview family members in order to collect stories which are then organized and critically analyzed using concepts and insights gained from a family science course. The Album is designed to help students to gain an awareness of their own family and their place within it, as well as the multiplicity of ways of being family. Formal assessment data of the project reveals that, in general, students appreciate the opportunity to spend time with and learn more about their family members, while at the same time gaining a deeper understanding of family science concepts and their own identity. Family science educators are charged with the responsibility of preparing future family service professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective prevention and intervention work. Given the cultural, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and structural diversity of families within the United States, it is imperative that family science graduates be able to recognize and understand the complexity of families and their various contexts. In order to facilitate student comprehension of diverse family issues and capitalize on the tendency to consider the relationship of family science content to one’s own family life, it is critical that faculty enliven their classes with experiential and other types of assignments that are responsive to a variety of learning styles, take advantage of students’ tendency toward introspection relative to disciplinary material, and make course content relevant to real world experiences. Because it integrates multiple learning styles and necessitates personal reflection, the Family Folklore Album project is one pedagogical strategy that is well-suited for fostering students’ ability to recognize, appreciate, and understand the unique characteristics of their own family so that they can recognize the diversity in other families. Similarly, it’s a project that promotes deeper understanding and application of family science concepts. Direct correspondence to Dr. Erin F. Boyd-Soisson, Department of Human Development and Family Science, Messiah College, Grantham, PA 17027. Email: eboyd@messiah.edu Family Science Review, Volume 14, Issue 2, 2009 © 2009 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved