Real-Time Vision-based Scene Classification for Adaptive Behavior in Autonomous Mobile Robots

The construction of a smart autonomous mobile robot system that can operate in an anonymous environment can be difficult. Building an autonomous mobile robot requires collecting data from sensors and cameras in order to recognize the surrounding environment, get knowledge of existing landmarks, and figure out its position and orientation. Many research studies have been carried out in recent years providing algorithms for achieving autonomous motion of mobile robot systems and object detection. The most common platform utilized for robot motion design is ROS (Robot Operating System) and for object detection YOLO (You Only Look Once) is a common choice. Additionally, the autonomous system needs motion planning in a systematic way to avoid obstacles by using LIDAR or other sensing methods generating the feedback signals required for control of motion around occupied spaces. One of the most effective and versatile feedback systems for mobile robot control can be constructed using visual feedback, which relies on a high-resolution camera that processes the image in real-time and the result is fed back to the control system for decision making. Visual feedback can be employed alone without sensors for feedback control of autonomous mobile robots, and it can be used for multiple tasks like path planning, obstacle avoidance, object detection, object recognition in addition to motion control. In this research, results of design and construction of an autonomous mobile rescue robot for finding victims through video data are presented. It is aimed to find victims via applying video as a data collection and feedback generation tool in the autonomous mobile robot control system. The visual feedback and YOLO v3 are used not only for finding victims but also for motion control. Our autonomous mobile robot is designed to move smoothly to the victim's direction and avoids obstacles by using ROS Global Planner. The robot is tested in multiple scenarios in different locations, various obstacle and victim numbers, and satisfactory results with good performances are obtained.

Expounding on the results of the author's work with the US Army Research Office, DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, and various defense industry contractors, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots explores how to produce an "artificial conscience" in a new class of robots, humane-oids, which are robots that can potentially perform more et

As online shopping is becoming mainstream, driven by the social impact of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) as well as the development of Internet services, the demand for autonomous delivery mobile robots is rapidly increasing. This trend has brought the autonomous mobile robot market to a new turning point, with expectations that numerous mobile robots will be driving on roads with traffic. To achieve these expectations, autonomous mobile robots should precisely perceive the situation on roads with traffic. In this paper, we revisit and implement a real-time traffic light recognition system with a proposed lightweight state recognition network and ratio-preserving zero padding, which is a two-stage system consisting of a traffic light detection (TLD) module and a traffic light status recognition (TLSR) module. For the TLSR module, this work proposes a lightweight state recognition network with a small number of weight parameters, because the TLD module needs more weight parameters to find the exact location of traffic lights. Then, the proposed effective and lightweight network architecture is constructed by using skip connection, multifeature maps with different sizes, and kernels of appropriately tuned sizes. Therefore, the network has a negligible impact on the overall processing time and minimal weight parameters while maintaining high performance. We also propose to utilize a ratio-preserving zero padding method for data preprocessing for the TLSR module to enhance recognition accuracy. For the TLD module, extensive evaluations with varying input sizes and backbone network types are conducted, and then appropriate values for those factors are determined, which strikes a balance between detection performance and processing time. Finally, we demonstrate that our traffic light recognition system, utilizing the TLD module’s determined parameters, the proposed network architecture for the TLSR module, and the ratio-preserving zero padding method can reliably detect the location and state of traffic lights in real-world videos recorded in Gumi and Deagu, Korea, while maintaining at least 30 frames per second for real-time operation.

In this paper, we describe a basic sensing system for self-diagnosing an autonomous mobile robot. In recent years, many researches on intelligent robots and systems have been done. But, when such robots and systems work in the real environment, it is important for those robots and systems to have the ability to recognize their own conditions for detecting faults. On the point of view, we should consider pay more attention to diagnose in such intelligent systems. Therefore we try to construct an internal sensing system as a self-diagnosis system on a real robot. Especially, in this paper, we discuss about motor system of an autonomous omnidirectional mobile robot, which was developed in RIKEN. The self-diagnosis system consists of multiple sensors, which are voltage, current, encoder, and magnetic sensors. We show some diagnosing experimental results using the real system. From the results, we could collect basic data for fault detection of the system.

Summary form only given, as follows. In trying to build complete autonomous and self-contained mobile robots that can operate in dynamic environments the authors have developed a set of constraints on both sensing and action that are somewhat different from the traditional assumptions. The authors have built a number of small (on the order of a few pounds in weight) totally autonomous mobile robots which do real-time sensing, some including vision, as they navigate about. This paper focuses on the connection of sensing to action and how that constrains each of them. >

Research on mobile robots began in the late sixties with the Stanford Research Institute’s pioneering work. Two versions of SHAKEY, an autonomous mobile robot, were built in 1968 and 1971. The main purpose of this project was “to study processes for the realtime control of a robot system that interacts with a complex environment” 〈NIL 69〉. Indeed, mobile robots were and still are a very convenient and powerful support for research on artificial intelligence oriented robotics. They possess the capacity to provide a variety of problems at different levels of generality and difficulty in a large domain including perception, decision making, communication, etc., which all have to be considered within the scope of the specific constraints of robotics: on-line computing, cost considerations, operating ability, and reliability.

The definition of good experimental methodologies is a topic of growing interest in autonomous mobile robotics. Recently, researchers in this field have started to recognize that their experimental methodologies have not yet reached the level of maturity of other disciplines. In the effort of improving the quality of experimental activities, some proposals have been made to take inspiration from how experiments are performed in traditional sciences. However, a comprehensive analysis of the peculiar features involved in the experimentation of autonomous mobile robots intended as engineering artifacts is, to the best of our knowledge, still lacking. In this paper, we aim at contributing to fill this gap by discussing experiments in autonomous mobile robotics from an engineering point of view. We start by considering autonomous mobile robots as technical artifacts, namely as physical entities designed for a technical function and provided with a use plan. Then, we show that, due to the nature of the field, scientific and engineering aspects are strongly interrelated in the experimental activities performed to assess and evaluate autonomous mobile robots. To make our discussion more concrete, we refer to some examples taken from the specific robotic application of search and rescue of victims after a disaster.KeywordsExperimentsAutonomous mobile robotsTechnical artifacts

In the control of autonomous mobile robots there exist two types of control: global control and local control. The requirement to solve global and local tasks arises respectively. This chapter concentrates on local tasks and shows that robots can learn to cope with some local tasks within minutes. The main idea of the chapter is to show that, while creating intelligent control systems for autonomous mobile robots, the beginning is most important as we have to transfer as much as possible human knowledge and human expert-operator skills into the intelligent control system. Successful transfer ensures fast and good results. One of the most advanced techniques in robotics is an autonomous mobile robot on-line learning from the experts’ demonstrations. Further, the latter technique is briefly described in this chapter. As an example of local task the wall following is taken. The main goal of our experiment is to teach the autonomous mobile robot within 10 minutes to follow the wall of the maze as fast and as precisely as it is possible. This task also can be transformed to the obstacle circuit on the left or on the right. The main part of the suggested control system is a small Feed-Forward Artificial Neural Network. In some particular cases – critical situations – “If-Then” rules undertake the control, but our goal is to minimize possibility that these rules would start controlling the robot. The aim of the experiment is to implement the proposed technique on the real robot. This technique enables to reach desirable capabilities in control much faster than they would be reached using Evolutionary or Genetic Algorithms, or trying to create the control systems by hand using “If-Then” rules or Fuzzy Logic. In order to evaluate the quality of the intelligent control system to control an autonomous mobile robot we calculate objective function values and the percentage of the robot work loops when “If-Then” rules control the robot.

Fuzzy drive control of an autonomous mobile robot

Introduction: Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) represent a transformative technology revolutionizing various industries, from manufacturing and logistics to healthcare and service sectors. These robots, equipped with advanced sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and navigation systems, can operate independently in dynamic environments without human intervention. The emergence of AMRs has significantly impacted traditional workflows, offering enhanced efficiency, flexibility, and safety in diverse operational settings. The development of AMRs stems from the increasing demand for automation solutions to address challenges such as labor shortages, rising operational costs, and the need for faster and more accurate task execution. Unlike traditional industrial robots confined to fixed locations or predefined paths, AMRs possess the capability to navigate complex environments, adapt to changing conditions, and collaborate seamlessly with humans and other machines. The significance of research in the field of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) extends across various domains, reflecting their transformative impact on industries, economies, and society as a whole. Understanding the importance of research in this field is essential for harnessing the full potential of AMRs and addressing the challenges and opportunities they present. Technological Advancements: Research in AMRs drives technological advancements, leading to the development of more sophisticated sensors, AI algorithms, and navigation systems. These advancements enhance the capabilities of AMRs, enabling them to operate in complex and dynamic environments with greater autonomy, efficiency, and safety. Industrial Automation: AMRs play a crucial role in industrial automation, revolutionizing manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics operations. Research in this area focuses on optimizing AMR deployment, task allocation, and coordination to improve productivity, reduce costs, and streamline processes in diverse industrial settings. Robo Navigator 3000, Auto Rover X, Smart Path Pro, Nav Bot Elite, Intelli Scout. Battery Life (hours), Navigation Accuracy (%), Maintenance Requirement (Rating), Noise Level (dB). The results indicate that Smart Path Pro achieved the highest rank, while Auto Rover X received the lowest rank being attained. “The value of the dataset for Autonomous Mobile Robot lies, according to the Weighted Sum Method (WSM), demonstrates that Smart Path Pro achieves the highest ranking.”

The kinematic model identification algorithm of the autonomous mobile robot using dynamical recurrent neural network is presented. The structure and the learning algorithm of dynamical recurrent neural network are analyzed. Data in the training set are from an autonomous mobile robot and are filtered with /spl alpha/-/spl beta/ filter. Experiments on the autonomous mobile robot show that it is practically feasible to represent the nonlinearities and dynamic characters of the autonomous mobile robot. The forward model is also an essential segment to control the autonomous mobile robot motion with generalized predictive control algorithm.

Promising SLAM Methods for Automated Guided Vehicles and Autonomous Mobile Robots

In this paper, we examine the human ball catching strategy called LOT (linear optical trajectory) that had been proposed in the field of human behavior through an autonomous mobile robot. LOT is a model of the motion strategy that explains the rationality of the running path of outfielder in catching the balls. However, this model does not provide concrete shape about how fielders decide the running direction and velocity according to the ever-changing position of balls. We consider the ball catching task by an autonomous mobile robot and derive a visual feedback control method based on LOT. We also demonstrate that the proposed method enables the mobile robot to catch the balls that fly in three-dimensional space only by using the monocular vision system.

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are increasingly important in Industry 4.0 intralogistics but creating path planning systems that adapt to dynamic and uncertain Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), especially managing conflicts among multiple AMRs with a need for scalable decentralised solutions, remains a significant challenge. This research introduces a dynamic path planning system for AMRs designed for reactive adaptation to FMS disturbances and generalisation across factory layouts, incorporating support for multiple AMRs with integrated conflict avoidance. The system is built on a Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) architecture, where software AMR agents independently calculate their paths using a hybrid Genetic Algorithm (GA) that employs Cell-Based Decomposition (CBD) and optimises path length, smoothness, and overlap via a multi-objective fitness function. Multi-AMR conflict avoidance is implemented using the Iterative Exclusion Principle (IEP), which facilitates priority-based planning, knowledge sharing through Predictive Collision Avoidance (PCA), and iterative replanning among agents communicating via a blackboard agent. Verification demonstrated the system’s ability to successfully avoid deadlocks for up to nine AMRs and exhibit good scalability. Validation in a simulated FMS environment confirmed robust adaptation to various disturbances, including static and dynamic obstacles, while maintaining stable run times and consistent path quality. These results affirm the practical feasibility of this hybrid GA and MAS-based approach for dynamic AMR control in complex industrial settings.

The deployment of teams of autonomous mobile robots provides potential by leveraging the strengths of individual robots and compensating for their disadvantages. This makes them particularly well suited to carrying out complex scenarios for logistics, environmental monitoring or search and rescue. However, the success of such teams relies on achieving seamless interoperability among differing robots. In the area of the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT), addressing this interoperability challenge becomes paramount. Therefore, an interoperable communication concept is introduced that considers interoperability based on semantic, syntactic, and technical clusters. It is designed to meet the specific requirements of multimodal autonomous mobile robots. Based on legal considerations, this method enables the integration and collaboration of different autonomous mobile robots in real-life applications. A logistics scenario involving multiple autonomous mobile robots illustrates the applicability of this interoperable communication concept.