{"title":"Augmenting GRIPS with Heuristic Sampling for Planning Feasible Trajectories of a Car-Like Robot","authors":"Brian Angulo, K. Yakovlev, I. Radionov","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568818","url":null,"abstract":"Kinodynamic motion planning for non-holomonic mobile robots is a challenging problem that is lacking a universal solution. One of the computationally efficient ways to solve it is to build a geometric path first and then transform this path into a kinematically feasible one. Gradient-informed Path Smoothing (GRIPS) [1] is a recently introduced method for such transformation. GRIPS iteratively deforms the path and adds/deletes the waypoints while trying to connect each consecutive pair of them via the provided steering function that respects the kinematic constraints. The algorithm is relatively fast but, unfortunately, does not provide any guarantees that it will succeed. In practice, it often fails to produce feasible trajectories for car-like robots with large turning radius. In this work, we introduce a range of modifications that are aimed at increasing the success rate of GRIPS for car-like robots. The main enhancement is adding an additional step that heuristically samples the waypoints along the bottleneck parts of the geometric paths (such as sharp turns). The results of the experimental evaluation provide a clear evidence that the success rate of the suggested algorithm is up to 40% higher compared to the original GRIPS and hits the bar of 90%, while its runtime is lower.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123577376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rapidly-Exploring Random Graph Next-Best View Exploration for Ground Vehicles","authors":"Marco Steinbrink, Philipp Koch, B. Jung, S. May","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568785","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, a novel approach is introduced which utilizes a Rapidly-exploring Random Graph to improve sampling-based autonomous exploration of unknown environments with unmanned ground vehicles compared to the current state of the art. Its intended usage is in rescue scenarios in large indoor and underground environments with limited teleoperation ability. Local and global sampling are used to improve the exploration efficiency for large environments. Nodes are selected as the next exploration goal based on a gain-cost ratio derived from the assumed 3D map coverage at the particular node and the distance to it. The proposed approach features a continuously-built graph with a decoupled calculation of node gains using a computationally efficient ray tracing method. The Next-Best View is evaluated while the robot is pursuing a goal, which eliminates the need to wait for gain calculation after reaching the previous goal and significantly speeds up the exploration. Furthermore, a grid map is used to determine the traversability between the nodes in the graph while also providing a global plan for navigating towards selected goals. Simulations compare the proposed approach to state-of-the-art exploration algorithms and demonstrate its superior performance.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128454098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finding 3D Dubins Paths with Pitch Angle Constraint Using Non-linear Optimization","authors":"J. Herynek, Petr Váňa, J. Faigl","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568787","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a novel non-linear programming formulation to find the shortest 3D Dubins path with a limited pitch angle. Such a path is suitable for fix-wing aircraft because it satisfies both the minimum turning radius and pitch angle constraints, and thus it is a feasible and smooth path in the 3D space. The proposed method utilizes the existing decoupled approach as an initial solution and improves its quality by dividing the path into small segments with constant curvature. The proposed formulation encodes the path using the direction vectors that significantly reduce the needed optimization variables. Therefore, a path with 100 segments can be optimized in about one second using conventional computational resources. Although the decoupled paths are usually within 2 % from the lower bound, the proposed approach further reduces the gap by about 30 %.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127435413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Online Estimation of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) of Forest Trees Using a Handheld LiDAR","authors":"Alexander Proudman, Milad Ramezani, M. Fallon","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568814","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568814","url":null,"abstract":"While mobile LiDAR sensors are increasingly used to scan in ecology and forestry applications, reconstruction and characterisation are typically carried out offline (to the best of our knowledge). Motivated by this, we present an online LiDAR system which can run on a handheld device to segment and track individual trees and identify them in a fixed coordinate system. Segments relating to each tree are accumulated over time, and tree models are completed as more scans are captured from different perspectives. Using this reconstruction we then fit a cylinder model to each tree trunk by solving a least-squares optimisation over the points to estimate the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) of the trees. Experimental results demonstrate that our system can estimate DBH to within ~7 cm accuracy for 90% of individual trees in a forest (Wytham Woods, Oxford).","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125306692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multiple Robots Avoid Humans To Get the Jobs Done: An Approach to Human-aware Task Allocation","authors":"Filip Surma, T. Kucner, Masoumeh Mansouri","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568843","url":null,"abstract":"Multi-robot Task Allocation (MRTA) is the problem of assigning tasks to robots subject to a performance objective. Among existing approaches to MRTA, auction-based methods are widely used. In an auction-based method, each robot typically computes its Euclidean distance to all the given tasks, and those values are bids based on which a global auctioneer allocates the tasks to them. Although simple to compute, these approaches result in an inefficient navigation of robots to reach the tasks in an environment populated with humans. We overcome this limitation by augmenting bids in an auction-based MRTA method with knowledge of human motions. As a result, this augmented task allocation method may, for instance, assign a task to a robot which is further away so long as the robot avoids possibly congested places. We validate the approach through simulated fleets of robots in a shopping centre and a small-scale warehouse environment. Our results show significant improvement over the allocation that ignores knowledge of human dynamics.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"11 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116779772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gait-Free Planning for Hexapod Walking Robot","authors":"David Valouch, J. Faigl","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568834","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568834","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a gait-free motion planning approach for quasi-static walking of hexapod walking robots on terrains with limited available footholds. The proposed approach avoids using a prescribed gait pattern allowing an arbitrary sequence of leg swings. Furthermore, it is allowed that some legs do not need to be placed on the terrain for an extended duration. The proposed method is based on a decomposition of the motion planning into: (i) finding a candidate sequence of stances and intermediate configurations representing plausible steps using a graph-search; and (ii) connecting the intermediate configurations by feasible paths satisfying the motion constraints of the walking robot. The individual one-step paths are determined using a Bézier curve-based parametrization that seems to be sufficient for the relatively simple paths of a single step, and the low-capacity parametrization yields natural-looking motion.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117005820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marc Eisoldt, M. Flottmann, Julian Gaal, Pascal Buschermöhle, Steffen Hinderink, Malte Hillmann, Adrian Nitschmann, Patrick Hoffmann, T. Wiemann, Mario Porrmann
{"title":"HATSDF SLAM – Hardware-accelerated TSDF SLAM for Reconfigurable SoCs","authors":"Marc Eisoldt, M. Flottmann, Julian Gaal, Pascal Buschermöhle, Steffen Hinderink, Malte Hillmann, Adrian Nitschmann, Patrick Hoffmann, T. Wiemann, Mario Porrmann","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568815","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568815","url":null,"abstract":"Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is one of the fundamental problems in autonomous robotics. Over the years, many approaches to solve this problem for 6D poses and 3D maps based on LiDAR sensors or depth cameras have been proposed. One of the main drawbacks of the solutions found in the literature is the required computational power and corresponding energy consumption. In this paper, we present an approach for LiDAR-based SLAM that maintains a global truncated signed distance function (TSDF) to represent the map. It is implemented on a System On Chip (SoC) with an integrated FPGA accelerator. The proposed system is able to track the position of a Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR in real time, while maintaining a global TSDF map that can be used to create a polygonal map of the environment. We show that our implementation delivers competitive results compared to state-of-the-art algorithms while drastically reducing the power consumption compared to classical CPU or GPU-based methods.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126515935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nandan Banerjee, D. Lisin, Victoria Albanese, Zhongjian Zhu, S. Lenser, Justin Shriver, Tyagaraja Ramaswamy, Jimmy Briggs, Phil Fong
{"title":"Preventing and Correcting Mistakes in Lifelong Mapping","authors":"Nandan Banerjee, D. Lisin, Victoria Albanese, Zhongjian Zhu, S. Lenser, Justin Shriver, Tyagaraja Ramaswamy, Jimmy Briggs, Phil Fong","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568826","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568826","url":null,"abstract":"A Graph SLAM system is only as good as the edges in its pose graph. Critical mistakes in the generation of these edges can instantly render a map inconsistent, misleading, and ultimately unusable. For a lifelong mapping system, where the map is updated continuously, avoiding these errors altogether is infeasible. Instead, we propose a system for detection of and recovery from severe errors in edge generation. Our system remedies both edges created by view observations and edges created by an odometry motion model. For observation edges, we pair a novel method for monitoring ambiguous views with an intelligent graph-merging algorithm capable of rejecting a relocalization in progress. For motion edges, we propose a qualitative geometric approach for detecting structural aberrations characteristic of odometry failures. We conclude with an analysis of our results based on an empirical study of thousands of robot runs.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129578534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Felix Stache, Jonas Westheider, Federico Magistri, Marija Popovi'c, C. Stachniss
{"title":"Adaptive Path Planning for UAV-based Multi-Resolution Semantic Segmentation","authors":"Felix Stache, Jonas Westheider, Federico Magistri, Marija Popovi'c, C. Stachniss","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568788","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we address the problem of adaptive path planning for accurate semantic segmentation of terrain using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The usage of UAVs for terrain monitoring and remote sensing is rapidly gaining momentum due to their high mobility, low cost, and flexible deployment. However, a key challenge is planning missions to maximize the value of acquired data in large environments given flight time limitations. To address this, we propose an online planning algorithm which adapts the UAV paths to obtain high-resolution semantic segmentations necessary in areas on the terrain with fine details as they are detected in incoming images. This enables us to perform close inspections at low altitudes only where required, without wasting energy on exhaustive mapping at maximum resolution. A key feature of our approach is a new accuracy model for deep learning-based architectures that captures the relationship between UAV altitude and semantic segmentation accuracy. We evaluate our approach on the application of crop/weed segmentation in precision agriculture using real-world field data.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121430996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mehul Arora, Louis Wiesmann, Xieyuanli Chen, C. Stachniss
{"title":"Mapping the Static Parts of Dynamic Scenes from 3D LiDAR Point Clouds Exploiting Ground Segmentation","authors":"Mehul Arora, Louis Wiesmann, Xieyuanli Chen, C. Stachniss","doi":"10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ecmr50962.2021.9568799","url":null,"abstract":"Dynamic objects are an inherent part of our world, but their presence deteriorates the performance of various localization, navigation, and SLAM algorithms. This not only makes it important but necessary to remove these dynamic points from the map before they can be used for other tasks. In this paper, we address the problem of building maps of the static aspects of the world by detecting and removing dynamic points from the source point clouds. We target a map cleaning approach that removes the dynamic points and maintains a high quality of the generated static map. To this end, we propose a novel ground segmentation method and integrate it into the OctoMap to better distinguish between the moving objects and static road backgrounds. We evaluate our approach using SemanticKITTI for both dynamic object removal and ground segmentation algorithms. The evaluation results show that our method outperforms the baseline methods in both tasks and achieves good performance in generating clean maps.","PeriodicalId":200521,"journal":{"name":"2021 European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)","volume":"2011 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116950255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}