Automated Collision Avoidance Developed Within a Mixed Reality System

Directional optimal reciprocal collision avoidance

Bounding volume based approaches in velocity obstacle (VO) provide a good solution for collision avoidance of mobile robots with uncertainty. However, the VO built with the bounding footprint always has over-constraining problems which may lead to conservative maneuvers of the mobile robots. Addressing this problem, a vertical ellipse based velocity obstacle (VEVO) collision avoidance method is proposed in this paper. The method mitigates the over-constraining situation by building the footprint probability ellipse whose minor axis is vertical to the direction of the obstacle to minimize the VO area. Based on VEVO, a DWA (Dynamic Window Approach) integrated method is proposed to provide a set of available velocities in speed selection. According to different collision avoidance objectives like collision safety, shortest time consumption and shortest trajectory length, a multi-objective velocity selecting strategy is proposed to provide optimal velocities for motion planning. Furthermore, a dynamic local path adjustment method is proposed to help robots react to the closest obstacle (dynamic or static) according to different collision safety requirements. We validate our methods in a simulated workspace with different numbers of robots going to their goal points. Experimental results show VEVO method could improve the collision avoidance performance in crowded multi-robot environment and robots could achieve their different objectives when suitable parameters are set in the velocity evaluation function. The proposed dynamic local path adjustment method only affects the trajectories in local areas and could ensure collision avoidance safety and performance at the same time.

Tangible physical systems are more intuitive than Intangible virtual Systems. Mixed reality systems are considered as an alternative to virtual systems, bringing advantages of tangible systems into an interaction. However, past research has mainly focussed on technical aspects of incorporating pervasive-ness and immersive-ness in the virtual systems. This paper reports on an empirical study of intuitive Interaction in a Mixed Reality game system for children and the design aspects that could facilitate intuitive Interaction in such systems. A related samples Friedman’s test showed that the Mixed Reality game system demonstrated more intuitive interactions than non‐intuitive Interactions. A linear regression analysis further established that the variation in intuitive Interaction in the Mixed Reality system could be statistically significantly explained primarily by physical affordances offered by the Mixed Reality system and to a lesser extent by the perceived affordances in the system. Design guidelines to develop intuitive Mixed Reality systems are discussed. These guidelines should allow designers to exploit the wonders of advances in technology and at the same time allow users to directly interact with the physical real world. This will allow users to access maximal physical affordances, which are primary contributors to intuitive interaction in Tangible and Mixed Reality systems. Keywords: Intuitive Interaction; Mixed Reality Systems; Tangibles; Child Computer Interaction

Autonomous surface crafts (ASCs) have strong potential as platforms for repeat transect oceanographic surveys in coastal and estuarine systems. Good spatial and temporal coverage and resolution could be achieved by an ASC capable of weekslong operations at average speed 5 knots, which is the design goal for the Surveying Coastal Ocean Autonomous Profiler (SCOAP) catamaran ASC. This project addresses operational challenges for long duration ASC deployments, to help minimize risk of collisions: site planning, and on-board collision avoidance (CA) software. In anticipation of a Rhode Island Sound (RIS) SCOAP deployment, a site planning method was developed using archived Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. AIS is a real-time, radio-based system for sharing navigation information among vessels. Archived data were used to determine geographic and seasonal patterns of RIS vessel traffic, and associated frequency of potential collision encounters for various hypothetical repeat transect ASC surveys under consideration. Seasonal-mean AIS vessel traffic varied from as low as 0.01 tracks per day or less in southeastern RIS to about 8 tracks per day in shipping lanes near Narragansett Bay. Corresponding numbers of potential collision encounters for a month-long repeat transect ASC survey in these two areas are about 0-2 and 12-22, respectively, with lower/higher values in winter/summer. Crudely estimated non-AIS traffic suggests up to 3-4 times higher total (AIS and non-AIS vessels) potential encounters. The method provides quantitative information to enable site planning that best balances oceanographic sampling goals against associated collision risks. On-board autonomy software capable of performing collision avoidance (CA) maneuvers is essential for long duration ASC operations. To demonstrate and evaluate its CA performance the Mission Oriented Operation Suite Interval Programming Helm autonomy software, to be implemented on SCOAP, was used to simulate repeat transect ASC surveys with traffic vessels. The CA algorithm used avoids collisions without attempting to comply with Coast Guard (CG) Collision Avoidance Regulations (COLREGS). Three categories of ASC CA maneuver were identified, in which nearly all encounters fall: large deflection, course-reversal, and leave/return to station keeping. ASC path disruptions are substantially reduced when traffic vessels perform CA in addition to the ASC; sensitivity of encounter statistics to other ASC and traffic vessel path configurations, and CA algorithm parameters, is modest. Overall the CA algorithm performed reliably, resolving at least 97% of encounters in 10s of seconds, including interactions with multiple traffic vehicles simultaneously. A framework was developed for how ASCs can best approach compliance with COLREGS, the

Digital hydraulics is a discrete technology that integrates advanced dynamic system controls, digital electronics, and machine learning to enhance fluid power systems’ performance, overall efficiency, and controllability. A mechanically actuated inline three-piston variable displacement digital pump was previously proposed and designed. The inline three-piston pump incorporates complex mechanical and hydraulic subsystems and highly coupled mechanisms. The complexity of the utilized subsystems poses challenges when assessing the viability of the conceptual design. Therefore, this work focuses on designing, developing, and implementing a collaborative virtual platform involving a digitized module showcasing the internal mechanical structure of the digital pump utilizing mixed reality (MR) technology. MR technology is acknowledged as the forthcoming evolution of the human–machine interface in the real–virtual environment utilizing computers and wearables. This technology permits running simulations that examine the complexity of highly coupled systems, like the digital pump, where understanding the physical phenomenon is far too intricate. The developed MR platform permits multiple users to collaborate in a synchronized immersive MR environment to study and analyze the applicability of the pump’s design and the adequacy of the operated mechanisms. The collaborative MR platform was designed and developed on the Unity game engine, employing Microsoft Azure and Photon Unity Networking to set up the synchronized MR environment. The platform involves a fully interactive virtual module on the digital pump design, developed in multiple stages using Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Tool Kit (MRTK) for Unity and deployed in the synchronized MR environment through a HoloLens 2 MR headset. A research study involving 71 participants was carried out at Purdue University. The study’s objective was to explore the impact of the collaborative MR environment on understanding the complexity and operation of the digital pump. It also sought to assess the effectiveness of MR in facilitating collaboration among fluid power stakeholders in a synchronized digital reality setting to study, diagnose, and control their complex systems. Surveys were designed and completed by all 71 participants after experiencing the MR platform. The results indicate that approximately 75% of the participants expressed positive attitudes toward their overall MR platform experience, with particular appreciation for its immersive nature and the synchronized collaborative environment it provided. More than 70% of the participants agreed that the pump’s collaborative MR platform was essential for studying and understanding the complexity and intricacy of the digital pump’s mechanical structure. Overall, the results demonstrate that the MR platform effectively facilitates the visualization of the complex pump’s internal structure, inspection of the assembly of each of the involved subsystems, and testing the applicability of the complicated mechanisms.

In this study1, formation control and collision avoidance problem of multi-agent system with switching communication topology has been researched. Due to changes in the communication topology, collision between agents may occur during the course of formation, especially when the distance between agents is very close. Therefore, we have proposed a stable and effective formation control law with collision avoidance capability for the multi-agent system. It is assumed that the topology graph is directed and switching. Besides, the agent is modeled as a single integrator. Our formation control law is the combination of a consensus-based formation control method and a collision avoidance algorithm. The collision avoidance algorithm is adopted based on the artificial potential field (APF) method. In addition, we have adapted the potential function to ensure connectivity. The convergence is guaranteed even in the simultaneous execution of the consensus-based controller and the collision avoidance algorithm. And also, all agents can converge to the desired position rapidly. Some simulations have shown the validation of our scheme.

Many recent breakthroughs in medical diagnostics and drug discovery arise from deploying machine learning algorithms to large-scale data sets. However, a significant obstacle to such approaches is that they depend on high-quality annotations generated by domain experts. This study develops and evaluates BioLumin, a novel immersive mixed reality environment that enables users to virtually shrink down to the microscopic level for navigation and annotation of 3D reconstructed images. We discuss how domain experts were consulted in the specification of a pipeline to enable automatic reconstruction of biological models for mixed reality environments, driving the design of a 3DUI system to explore whether such a system allows accurate annotation of complex medical data by non-experts. To examine the usability and feasibility of BioLumin, we evaluated our prototype through a multi-stage mixed-method approach. First, three domain experts offered expert reviews, and subsequently, nineteen non-expert users performed representative annotation tasks in a controlled setting. The results indicated that the mixed reality system was learnable and that non-experts could generate high-quality 3D annotations after a short training session. Lastly, we discuss design considerations for future tools like BioLumin in medical and more general scientific contexts.

The recent years have witnessed an increase in the use of augmented and virtual reality systems, changing the way we interact with our environments. Such systems are commonly associated with advertising, entertainment, medicine, training and education. However, with the increasing acceptance and availability of mobile and wearable devices (e.g. head-mounted displays (HMD)), the use of these technologies is moving towards professional and industrial environments, where they would be able to support employees in their daily tasks, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing business costs. This paper presents an innovative Mixed Reality (MR) system to assist field workforce in remote locations. As part of the overall implementation, the MR system uses fuzzy logic mechanisms to improve accuracy in user tracking and object monitoring, allowing the correct representation of users and objects in the Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), and improving the experience for users.

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) is promoted as the future of intelligent shipping. While autonomy technologies offer a solution for MASS, they have also resulted in new challenges for performance validation. To address this, a scenario-based validation method to test the autonomous collision avoidance system is proposed in this paper, including mining ship encounter scenarios from massive historical AIS data and randomly generated virtual test scenarios according to the parameter probability distributions from the collected real scenarios, as well as the final experiments: a total of 2900 generated scenarios including single ship and multi-ship encounter situations are created and applied to conduct testing experiments on the further assessment of our collision avoidance algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed method has the ability to quickly create appropriate testing scenarios according to AIS records, which are helpful to catch potential defects in a collision avoidance algorithm of MASS and to further analyze its navigating features. As a result, the research forms a systematic set of validation procedures from data gathering to practical experiments conduction, incorporating both the real statistics and the random generation method.

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are attracting growing interest due to its wide range of applications. Collision avoidance algorithm is one of the crucial issue for UAVs to autonomously handle avoidance maneuver if it encounters obstacle in the airspace. This has motivated the development of several collision avoidance algorithm. Various approach in two-dimensional and three-dimensional collision avoidance has been reported in recent years. In this paper, we design a collision avoidance algorithm for UAVs to navigate safely in the airspace. The method is designed based on the original three-dimensional velocity obstacle method.

Unmanned systems, commonly referred to as drones, are widely used for surveillance, research, protection of military and civilian targets, search and rescue, and are becoming an increasingly important part of the maritime domain as they are used to execute tactical combat actions in air, surface and sub-surface combat environments. The successful use of unmanned systems in tactical combat actions in the war in Ukraine is leading to the rapid innovations in this field, which also implies the adoption of new tactics and strategies for their use in combat. In this article we have analysed the use of drones in the conflicts in the Black Sea and the Red Sea in order to highlight the importance to be given to the development of this field, especially for the limited maritime spaces, where the relatively small distances between targets represent a good opportunity to operate unmanned systems. The use of unmanned systems in maritime confined spaces covers a wide range of missions with the advantage of using them over a long period of time, at relatively low cost, and without jeopardizing human resources.

A mixed reality environment for collaborative product design and development

The ability to interact with virtual objects using gestures would allow users to improve their experience in Mixed Reality (MR) environments, especially when they use AR headsets. Today, MR head-mounted displays like the HoloLens integrate hand gesture based interaction allowing users to take actions in MR environments. However, the proposed interactions remain limited. In this paper, we propose to combine a Leap Motion Controller (LMC) with a HoloLens in order to improve gesture interaction with virtual objects. Two main issues are presented: an interactive calibration procedure for the coupled HoloLens-LMC device and an intuitive hand-based interaction approach using LMC data in the HoloLens environment. A set of first experiments was carried out to evaluate the accuracy and the usability of the proposed approach.

Technology anxiety contributes to an increased cognitive load and reduces user adoption of novel technologies. An illustrative example of this phenomenon is observed in the field of smart homes.To address this issue, we have identified an interaction paradigm known as natural interaction, which enables humans to engage with technology in a way that closely resembles natural human behavior and communication. This approach offers more user-friendly interactions that users are already familiar with, potentially reducing their cognitive load. In this paper, we present a case study of a smart lock system where we implement natural interaction and deploy it on a mixed reality (MR) device. By leveraging advanced features offered by MR head-mounted displays, we recreate the experience of people opening locks in everyday life. We conduct a user study comparing this interaction with traditional WIMP interaction in a mixed-reality environment. Through the analysis of collected data and user feedback, we examine the advantages and limitations of our proposed system.

With the development of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), considerable research is undertaken to secure their safety. One of the critical aspects of MASS is collision avoidance, and multiple collision avoidance algorithms have been developed. However, due to various reasons, collision avoidance of autonomous merchant vessels appears to be far from resolved. With this study, we aim to discuss the current state of Collision Avoidance Methods (CAMs) and the challenges lying ahead—from a joint academic and practical point of view. To this end, the key Rules from International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) have been reviewed with a focus on their practical application for MASS. Moreover, the consideration of the COLREG Rules in contemporary collision avoidance algorithms has been reviewed. The ultimate objective is to identify aspects of COLREG requiring additional attention concerning MASS developments in terms of collision avoidance. Our conclusions indicate that although a lot of progress has been achieved recently, the feasibility of CAMs for MASS remains questionable. Reasons for so are the ambiguous character of the regulations, especially COLREG, as well as virtually all existing CAMs being at best only partly COLREG-compliant.