Artificial intelligence and robotics.

Sensations and perceptions in CICEROBOT, a museum guide root

Multi-robot Interacting Through Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper addresses the issue of coordinating the operations of multiple robots in an indoor environment. The framework presented here uses a composite networking architecture, in which a hybrid wireless network, composed by commonly available WiFi devices, and the more recently developed wireless sensor networks. Such architecture grants robots to enhance their perceptive capabilities and to exchange information so as to coordinate actions in order to achieve a global common goal. The proposed framework is described with reference to an experimental setup that extends a previously developed robotic tour guide application in the context of a multi-robot application.

Attention-Based Landmark Selection in Autonomous Robotics

This paper describes a robotic architecture that uses visual attention mechanisms for autonomous navigation in unknown indoor environments. A foveation mechanism based on a bottom-up attention system allows the robot to autonomously select landmarks, defined as salient points in the camera images. Landmarks are memorized in a behavioral fashion by coupling sensing and acting to achieve a representation that is view and scale independent. Selected landmarks are stored in a topological map. During the navigation a top-down mechanism controls the attention system to achieve robot localization. Experiments and results show that our system is robust to noise and odometric errors, being at the sa…

RoBotanic: a Robot Guide for Botanical Gardens. Early steps.

CiceRobot: a cognitive robot for interactive museum tours

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to integrate perception, action and symbolic knowledge to allow an autonomous robot to operate in unstructured environments and to interact with non‐expert users.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve such goals, a cognitive robot architecture is proposed based on the integration between subsymbolic and linguistic computations through the introduction of an intermediate level of representation based on conceptual spaces.FindingsThe architecture has been tested in the CiceRobot project on tasks related to guided tours in the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento. Experimental results show that robot cognitive behaviors allow one to achieve a full functional roboti…

A Lightweight Software Architecture for Robot Navigation and Visual Logging through Environmental Landmarks Recognition

A robot architecture with real-time performance in navigation tasks is presented. The system architecture is multi-threaded with shared memory and fast message passing through static signalling. In this paper, we focused on the reactive layer components and its straightforward implementation. The proposed architecture is described with reference to an experimental setup, in which the robot task is visual logging of environmental landmarks detected on the basis of sensor readings. Our experimental results show how the robot is able to identify, make snapshots and log a set of landmarks by matching 2D geometric patterns.

Attention-based environment perception in autonomous robotics

This paper describes a robotic architecture that uses visual attention mechanisms for autonomous navigation in unknown indoor environments. A foveation mechanism based on classical bottom-up gaze shifts allows the robot to autonomously select landmarks, defined as salient points in the camera images. Landmarks are memorized in a behavioral fashion, coupling sensing and acting to achieve a representation view and scale independent. Selected landmarks are stored in a topological map; during the navigation a top-down mechanism controls the attention system to achieve robot localization. Experiments and results show that our system is robust to noise and odometric errors, being at the same time…

Visual Control of a Robotic Hand

The paper deals with the design and implementation of a visual control of a robotic system composed of a dexterous hand and stereo cameras. The aim of the proposed system is to reproduce the movements of a human hand in order to learn complex manipulation tasks. A novelty algorithm for a robust and fast fingertips localization and tracking is presented. Moreover, a simulator is integrated in the system to give useful feedbacks to the users during operations, and provide robust testing framework for real experiments (see video).

Automatic place detection and localization in autonomous robotics

This paper presents an approach for the simultaneous learning and recognition of places applied to autonomous robotics. While noteworthy results have been achieved with respect to off-line training process for appearance-based navigation, novel issues arise when recognition and learning are simultaneous and unsupervised processes. The approach adopted here uses a Gaussian mixture model estimated by a novel incremental MML-EM to model the probability distribution of features extracted by image-preprocessing. A place detector decides which features belong to which place integrating odometric information and a hidden Markov model. Tests demonstrate that the proposed system performs as well as …

The role of monitoring and emotions in a cognitive architecture for an outdoor robot guide

Automatic Landmark Detection and Recognition in Autonomous Robotics

Locus of control e robot: implementazione e validazione di un modello simulativo di apprendimento sociale

Experiences with CiceRobot, a Museum Guide Cognitive Robot

The paper describes CiceRobot, a robot based on a cognitive architecture for robot vision and action. The aim of the architecture is to integrate visual perception and actions with knowledge representation, in order to let the robot to generate a deep inner understanding of its environment. The principled integration of perception, action and of symbolic knowledge is based on the introduction of an intermediate representation based on Gardenfors conceptual spaces. The architecture has been tested on a RWI B21 autonomous robot on tasks related with guided tours in the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento. Experimental results are presented.

Conceptual Spaces and Robotics Emotions

HIGHER-ORDER ROBOT PERCEPTION LOOP

A Semantic Information Retrieval in a Robot Museum Guide Application

Knowledge Representation in CiceRobot: a Robot for Explorations of Cultural Heritage

The perception loop in CiceRobot, a museum guide robot

The paper discusses a model of robot perception based on a comparison loop process between the actual and the expected robot input sensory data generated by a 3D robot/environment simulator. The perception loop process is operating in CiceRobot, a functional robot architecture implemented on an autonomous robot RWI B21 offering guided tours at the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento, Italy.

A Cognitive Architecture for Robotic Hand Posture Learning

This paper deals with the design and implementation of a visual control of a robotic system composed of a dexterous hand and video camera. The aim of the proposed system is to reproduce the movements of a human hand in order to learn complex manipulation tasks or to interact with the user. A novel algorithm for robust and fast fingertips localization and tracking is presented. A suitable kinematic hand model is adopted to achieve a fast and acceptable solution to an inverse kinematics problem. The system is part of a cognitive architecture for posture learning that integrates the perceptions by a high-level representation of the scene and of the observed actions. The anthropomorphic robotic…

A Posture Sequence Learning System for an Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand

The paper presents a cognitive architecture for posture learning of an anthropomorphic robotic hand. Our approach is aimed to allow the robotic system to perform complex perceptual operations, to interact with an human user and to integrate the perceptions by a cognitive representation of the scene and the observed actions. The anthropomorphic robotic hand imitates the gestures acquired by the vision system in order to learn meaningful movements, to build its knowledge by different conceptual spaces and to perform complex interaction with the human operator.

Lessons learned with CiceRobot, a robot for museum guided tours

A Networking Framework for Multi-Robot Coordination

Autonomous robots operating in real environments need to be able to interact with a dynamic world populated with objects, people, and, in general, other agents. The current generation of autonomous robots, such as the ASIMO robot by Honda or the QRIO by Sony, has showed impressive performances in mechanics and control of movements; moreover, recent literature reports encouraging results about the capability of such robots of representing themselves with respect to a dynamic external world, of planning future actions and of evaluating resulting situations in order to make new plans. However, when multiple robots are supposed to operate together, coordination and communication issues arise; w…