Vision-based Mobile Robot Navigation A Qualitative

Vision-basedMobileRobotNavigation:AQualitativeApproachGordonChengBachelorofComputerScience(Wollongong)MasterofComputerScience(Wollongong)AthesissubmittedforthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophyofTheAustralianNationalUniversityDepartmentofSystemsEngineeringResearchSchoolofInformationSciencesandEngineeringTheAustralianNationalUniversityc2000byGordonCheng.Allrightsreserved.StatementofOriginalityThesedoctoralstudieswereconductedunderthesupervisionofDr.AlexanderZelin-skyasadvisor.Theworksubmittedinthisthesisistheresultoforiginalresearchcarriedoutbymyself,incollaborationwithothers,whileenrolledasaPh.D.studentintheDepartmentofSystemsEngineering,TheAustralianNationalUniversity.Ithasnotbeensubmittedforanyotherdegreeorawardinanyotheruniversityoreducationalinstitution.GordonChengiiiAbstractThegoalofmobileroboticsresearchhasbeentoestablisheffectivewaysforamobilerobottonavigatefromoneplacetoanother.Thisthesisdocumentsanexperimentalinvestigationintotheuseofvisionforthenavigationofmobilerobots.Theresearchpresentedinthisthesiswasdirectedatachievingqualitativenavigationinanunmod-ified,unknownanddynamicenvironment.Thisthesisdescribestheresearchinvolvedinthedevelopmentofanumberofkeyvisionprimitives:asetofhighperformancereal-timevisionprocessesforthesupportofnavigation,andasuiteofvisualbehaviourswhichfullyutilisesthevisionprocesses.Fromthevisionprimitivesweareabletoconstructasetofbasicvisualbehaviours,Collisionavoidance,ObstacleavoidanceandGoalseeking.Thesebehavioursallowamobilerobotsystemtofunctioninadynamicallychangingenvironment.Buildingfromthisfoundation,arangeofabilitieswererealised,Wandering,Targettracking,TargetpursuitingandForaging.Demonstratingtheflexibilityanddiversityofourapproach,anumberofapplicationswererealised:Landmark-basednavigation,aSoccerplayingrobot,andaVacuumcleaningrobot.Theabilitytoresolveconflictingsituationsforanautonomousmobilerobotisaddressedinthisthesis.Addressingsuchproblemsenablesamobilerobottoachieveautonomously,goal-orientednavigation.Experimentalresultsandananalyticalstudyofourapproachisalsopresentedaspartofthisthesis.Inthefinalpartofthisthesiswepresentaparadigmforrobotcontrol,SupervisedAutonomy.SupervisedAutonomyisaframework,whichfacilitatesthedevelopmentofhumanrobotsystems.Thecomponentsofthisframeworkhavebeendevisedinahuman-orientedmanner,toaugmentusersinaccomplishingtheirtask.Experimentalresultsofapplyingthisframeworktotheuseofamobilerobotteleoperationsystemarepresented.Thesystemwehavedevelopedmakesextensiveuseofthevisionprocessingcomponentswedevelopedearlier,inproducinganintuitivehumanrobotsystem.vListofpublicationsBookChapters•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.Real-TimeVisionProcessingforaSoccerPlayingMobileRobot,pages135–146.Volume1ofRoboCup-97:TheFirstRobotWorldCupSoccerGamesandConferences,SpringerVerlag.Anextendedversionof[ChengandZelinsky,1997b].JournalPapers•A.ZelinskyandG.Cheng.ABehaviour-basedVisionguidedMobileRobot.IEEETransactionsonRoboticsandAutomation.Submitted.•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.SupervisedAutonomy:AFrameworkforHuman-RobotSystemsDevelopmentSpecialIssueofAutonomousRobots.Tobepublished.ConferenceProceedings•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.SupervisedAutonomy:AFramworkforHumanRobotSystemsDevelopmentIEEEInternationalConferenceonSystems,ManandCybernetics,volumeVI,pages971–975,October12-151999.(invitedpaper.)AnextendedversionofthispaperistobepublishedinaspecialissueofAutonomousRobots.•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.Goal-orientedBehaviour-basedVisualNavigation.IEEEInternationalConferenceonRoboticsandAutomation,pages3431–3436,Leuven,Belgium,May16-211998.(nominatedforbestpaper.)•D.Jung,G.Cheng,andA.Zelinsky.RobotCleaning:AnApplicationofDistributedPlanningandReal-TimeVision.InProceedingsofInternationalConferenceonFieldandServiceRobotics(FSR’97),Canberra,Australia,1997.viiviiiListofpublications•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.SupervisedAutonomy:AParadigmforTeleoperatingMobileRobots.InProceedingsofthe1997IntelligentRobotsandSystemsConference,volume2,pages1169–1176,IROS’97,Grenoble,France,September7-111997.•D.Jung,G.Cheng,andA.Zelinsky.AnExperimentinRealisingCooperativeBehavioursbetweenAutonomousMobileRobots.InProceedingsoftheFifthIn-ternationalSymposiumOnExperimentalRobotics(ISER’97),Barcelona,Spain,1997.•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.Real-TimeVisualBehavioursforNavigatingaMo-bileRobot.InProceedingsIEEE/RSJInternationalConferenceonIntelligentRobotsandSystems,pages973–980.IROS’96,1996.•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.APhysicallyGroundedSearchinaBehaviourBasedRobot.InProceedingsoftheEighthAustralianJointConferenceonArtificialIntelligence,pages547–554,1995.(nominatedforbestpaper.)Workshoppresentations•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.AReactiveVision-basedNavigationSystemforaMobileRobot.InProceedingsofthe1997WorkshopforReactiveSystems,1997.UniversityofNewSouthWales.•G.ChengandA.Zelinsky.Real-TimeVisionProcessingforAutonomousMo-bileRobots.InProceedingsofthe1996Pan-SydneyWorkshopforVisualInformationProcessing,1996.•A.ZelinskyandG.Cheng.IncorporatingReal-TimeVisionintoRoboticTasks.InProceedingsoftheAustralianAcademyofTechnologicalSciencesandEngi-neeringWorkshoponManufacturingTechnolog