A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy for Continuous Human/Robot Cooperation in Navigation
01 May 2009-Vol. 39, Iss: 3, pp 486-500
TL;DR: This paper proposes a method to allow cooperation between humans and robots at each point of any given trajectory so that both have some weight in the emergent behavior of the mobile robot.
Abstract: Autonomous robots are capable of navigating on their own. Shared control approaches, however, allow humans to make some navigation decisions. This is typically executed either by overriding the human or the robot control at some specific situations. In this paper, we propose a method to allow cooperation between humans and robots at each point of any given trajectory so that both have some weight in the emergent behavior of the mobile robot. This is achieved by evaluating their efficiencies at each time instant and combining their commands into a single order. In order to achieve a seamless combination, this procedure is integrated into a bottom-up architecture via a reactive layer. We have tested the proposed method using a real robot and several volunteers, and results have been satisfactory both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view.
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TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the complete systems, key techniques, and evaluation issues of brain-controlled mobile robots along with some insights into related future research and development issues is provided.
Abstract: EEG-based brain-controlled mobile robots can serve as powerful aids for severely disabled people in their daily life, especially to help them move voluntarily. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the complete systems, key techniques, and evaluation issues of brain-controlled mobile robots along with some insights into related future research and development issues. We first review and classify various complete systems of brain-controlled mobile robots into two categories from the perspective of their operational modes. We then describe key techniques that are used in these brain-controlled mobile robots including the brain-computer interface techniques and shared control techniques. This description is followed by an analysis of the evaluation issues of brain-controlled mobile robots including participants, tasks and environments, and evaluation metrics. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the current challenges and future research directions.
324 citations
01 Nov 2009
TL;DR: Results indicate that the novel AFF more effectively performs the collision avoidance function than potential fields known from literature, and because of its smaller size, the field yields lower repulsive forces, results in less force cancellation effects, and allows for larger UAV velocities.
Abstract: The feedback upon which operators in teleoperation tasks base their control actions differs substantially from the feedback to the driver of a vehicle. On the one hand, there is often a lack of sensory information; on the other hand, there is additional status information presented via the visual channel. Haptic feedback could be used to unload the visual channel and to compensate for the lack of feedback in other modalities. For collision avoidance, haptic feedback could provide repulsive forces via the control inceptor. Haptic feedback allows operators to interpret the repulsive forces as impedance to their control deflections when a potential for collision exists. Haptic information can be generated from an artificial force field (AFF) that maps environment constraints to repulsive forces. This paper describes the design and theoretical evaluation of a novel AFF, i.e., the parametric risk field, for teleoperation of an uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV). The field allows adjustments of the size, shape, and force gradient by means of parameter settings, which determine the sensitivity of the field. Computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the field for collision avoidance for various parameter settings. Results indicate that the novel AFF more effectively performs the collision avoidance function than potential fields known from literature. Because of its smaller size, the field yields lower repulsive forces, results in less force cancellation effects, and allows for larger UAV velocities. This indicates less operator control demand and more effective UAV operations, both expected to lead to lower operator workload, while, at the same time, increasing safety.
176 citations
Cites background from "A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..."
...[47] developed a shared control system without haptic feedback and found that subjects were unable to determine when they had more help from the automation....
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01 May 2011
TL;DR: An ontology-based unified robot knowledge framework that integrates low-level data with high-level knowledge for robot intelligence and the experimental results that demonstrate the advantages of using the proposed knowledge framework are presented.
Abstract: A significant obstacle for service robots is the execution of complex tasks in real environments. For example, it is not easy for service robots to find objects that are partially observable and are located at a place which is not identical but near the place where the robots saw them previously. To overcome the challenge effectively, robot knowledge represented as a semantic network can be extremely useful. This paper presents an ontology-based unified robot knowledge framework that integrates low-level data with high-level knowledge for robot intelligence. This framework consists of two sections: knowledge description and knowledge association. Knowledge description includes comprehensively integrated robot knowledge derived from low-level knowledge regarding perceptual features, part objects, metric maps, and primitive behaviors, as well as high-level knowledge about perceptual concepts, objects, semantic maps, tasks, and contexts. Knowledge association uses logical inference with both unidirectional and bidirectional rules. This characteristic enables reasoning to be performed even when only a partial information is available. The experimental results that demonstrate the advantages of using the proposed knowledge framework are also presented.
167 citations
Cites background from "A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..."
...To collaborate with humans, on the other hand, semantic representation of space is required [27]–[29]....
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09 May 2011
TL;DR: The results of lab experiments and elderly home field tests show that this method can adapt the degree of wheelchair's autonomy to the user's control ability and it makes driving wheelchair much easier for elder people.
Abstract: Shared control is a common used method for human and wheelchair cooperation. However, most of the previous shared control methods didn't think much of the effect caused by the difference in the user's control ability. The control weight of a user in these methods is irrelevant to the user's capability or the driving conditions. In this paper, a dynamic shared control method is proposed to adapt wheelchair's assistance to the variations of user performance and the environmental changes. Three evaluation indices including safety, comfort and obedience are designed to evaluate wheelchair performance in real time. A minimax multi-objective optimization algorithm is adopted to calculate the user's control weight. The results of lab experiments and elderly home field tests show that this method can adapt the degree of wheelchair's autonomy to the user's control ability and it makes driving wheelchair much easier for elder people.
89 citations
Cites background or methods from "A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..."
...The system designed in [2] has taken the user as an integral part of the wheelchair system and the idea of evaluation function is notable....
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...A new kind of shared control method had been proposed by Poncela[2] and Urdiales [11]....
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TL;DR: The overall result was that all participants were able to successfully operate the device, showing a high level of robustness of both, the BCI system, and the navigation system.
84 citations
Cites background from "A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..."
...There are some shared control approaches that evaluate user and robot steering efficiencies at each time instant, and combine their commands into a single order [17], [18]....
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References
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Book•
01 Jun 1991
TL;DR: A new architecture for controlling mobile robots is described, building a robust and flexible robot control system that has been used to control a mobile robot wandering around unconstrained laboratory areas and computer machine rooms.
Abstract: A new architecture for controlling mobile robots is described. Layers of control system are built to let the robot operate at increasing levels of competence. Layers are made up of asynchronous modules that communicate over low-bandwidth channels. Each module is an instance of a fairly simple computational machine. Higher-level layers can subsume the roles of lower levels by suppressing their outputs. However, lower levels continue to function as higher levels are added. The result is a robust and flexible robot control system. The system has been used to control a mobile robot wandering around unconstrained laboratory areas and computer machine rooms. Eventually it is intended to control a robot that wanders the office areas of our laboratory, building maps of its surroundings using an onboard arm to perform simple tasks.
7,759 citations
"A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..." refers methods in this paper
...In order to solve the SPA drawbacks, the subsumption architecture [15] is based on a bottom–up behavioral approach:...
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01 Mar 1986
TL;DR: In this paper, a new architecture for controlling mobile robots is described, which is made up of asynchronous modules that communicate over low-bandwidth channels, each module is an instance of a fairly simple computational machine.
Abstract: A new architecture for controlling mobile robots is described. Layers of control system are built to let the robot operate at increasing levels of competence. Layers are made up of asynchronous modules that communicate over low-bandwidth channels. Each module is an instance of a fairly simple computational machine. Higher-level layers can subsume the roles of lower levels by suppressing their outputs. However, lower levels continue to function as higher levels are added. The result is a robust and flexible robot control system. The system has been used to control a mobile robot wandering around unconstrained laboratory areas and computer machine rooms. Eventually it is intended to control a robot that wanders the office areas of our laboratory, building maps of its surroundings using an onboard arm to perform simple tasks.
7,291 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a software framework running on processors onboard the new Uranus mobile robot is proposed to maintain a probabilistic, geometric map of the robot's surroundings as it moves.
Abstract: A numeric representation of uncertain and incomplete sensor knowledge called certainty grids was used successfully in several recent mobile robot control programs developed at the Carnegie-Mellon University Mobile Robot Laboratory (MRL). Certainty grids have proven to be a powerful and efficient unifying solution for sensor fusion, motion planning, landmark identification, and many other central problems. MRL had good early success with ad hoc formulas for updating grid cells with new information. A new Bayesian statistical foundation for the operations promises further improvement. MRL proposes to build a software framework running on processors onboard the new Uranus mobile robot that will maintain a probabilistic, geometric map of the robot's surroundings as it moves. The certainty grid representation will allow this map to be incrementally updated in a uniform way based on information coming from various sources, including sonar, stereo vision, proximity, and contact sensors. The approach can correctly model the fuzziness of each reading and, at the same time, combine multiple measurements to produce sharper map features; it can also deal correctly with uncertainties in the robot's motion. The map will be used by planning programs to choose clear paths, identify locations (by correlating maps), identify well-known and insufficiently sensed terrain, and perhaps identify objects by shape. The certainty grid representation can be extended in the time dimension and used to detect and track moving objects. Even the simplest versions of the idea allow us to fairly straightforwardly program the robot for tasks that have hitherto been out of reach. MRL looks forward to a program that can explore a region and return to its starting place, using map "snapshots" from its outbound journey to find its way back, even in the presence of disturbances of its motion and occasional changes in the terrain.
1,105 citations
TL;DR: The assumptions and guarantees behind the generality of the SSH across environments and sensorimotor systems are described and evidence is presented from several partial implementations of the ssh on simulated and physical robots.
763 citations
"A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..." refers background in this paper
...It has been reported that symbolic representations are better for high-level spatial reasoning [21], [22]....
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Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: This is a survey of the state-of-the-art in sensors, systems, methods and technologies utilized by a mobile robot to determine its position in the environment.
Abstract: This is a survey of the state-of-the-art in sensors, systems, methods and technologies utilized by a mobile robot to determine its position in the environment The many potential "solutions" are roughly categorized into two groups: relative and absolute position measurements The first includes odometry and inertial navigation; the second comprises active beacons, artificial and natural landmark recognition and model matching The authors compare and analyze these different methods based on technical publications and on commercial product and patent information Comparison is centred around the following criteria: accuracy of position and orientation measurements; equipment needed; cost; sampling rate; effective range; computational power required; processing needs; and other special features
696 citations
"A New Efficiency-Weighted Strategy ..." refers methods in this paper
...rected by techniques such as Kalman filters [13] or Monte Carlo localization [14]....
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