Mobile robot path tracking using a robust PID controller

This paper presents a simple and effective solution for the path tracking problem of a mobile robot using a PID controller. The proposed method uses a simple linearized model of the mobile robot composed of an integrator and a delay. The synthesis procedure is simple and allows the PID controller to be tuned considering the nominal performance and the robustness as control specifications. Experimental results demonstrate the good performance and robustness of the proposed controller.     

Adaptive robust fuzzy control for path tracking of a wheeled mobile robot

This paper proposes an adaptive robust fuzzy control scheme for path tracking of a wheeled mobile robot with uncertainties. The robot dynamics including the actuator dynamics is considered in this work. The presented controller is composed of a fuzzy basis function network (FBFN) to approximate an unknown nonlinear function of the robot complete dynamics, an adaptive robust input to overcome the uncertainties, and a stabilizing control input. The stability and the convergence of the tracking errors are guaranteed using the Lyapunov stability theory. When the controller is designed, the different parameters for two actuator models in the dynamic equation are taken into account. The proposed control scheme does not require the accurate parameter values for the actuator parameters as well as the robot parameters. The validity and robustness of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated through computer simulations. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

基于路径预测的机器人足球路径规划

针对常用的机器人路径规划算法过于复杂并且在每个运动周期都计算路径的问题,提出了一种结合路径预测的路径最优算法.充分利用预测结果减少每周期的路径规划时间;用微量调整动态控制机器人左右轮速度,并充分利用折线路径的短距离优势,为避障机器人创建一条最短路径;以基于周期性预测在同个时间轴上的相交作为碰撞信号,来减少每个周期的重复性计算时间.实验结果表明,该方法能大大提高机器人路径规划的速度,降低不同周期上路径规划结果不一致导致的运动震荡.     

Multi-features guided robust visual tracking

This paper focuses on dealing with the tracking challenges such as target occlusion and deformation. It proposes a new tracking method via extracting and evaluating multi-features for both target region and its adjacent surroundings. The multi-features separately describe the key factors to detect target including the color feature, the shape and contour feature, and the distributions of structure and intensity described by the Pearson Correlation Coefficient. These multi-features are proposed as the basic representation of target template and candidates and used to define a matching algorithm between them. The best matched candidate is taken as the final tracking result. To improve the efficiency of target template and candidates, the region of importance (ROI) for target is proposed by evaluating the distribution of salient values on many extended regions. The ROIs produce more accurate regions to form target template and candidates. Finally, a new template update method is defined based on the precision of tracked result to adapt to target state and achieve the follow target tracking. Using 25 videos in visual tracking benchmark, we achieve the quantitative and qualitatively evaluations of 12 different trackers. Many experiments demonstrate that our tracker produces much better results than the present trackers in dealing with target occlusion, deformation, rotation, background clutters.

     

光照鲁棒的Mean Shift跟踪方法

针对Mean Shift跟踪方法存在的光照不稳定问题,提出了一种光照鲁棒的Mean Shift跟踪方法。该方法采用颜色特征和局部二元模式特征（Local Binary Pattern)两种特征相结合来描述目标,其中局部二元模式特征的光照不变性使得目标模型更加鲁棒。同时,为了避免原始Mean Shift跟踪方法中bin-to-bin度量带来的不稳定性,该方法采用了一种新的cross-bin度量,该度量更好地融合了多层次的特征信息,使得光照变化下的特征匹配更加稳定。实验表明,该方法在光照变化情况下能取得比原始Mean Shift跟踪方法更好的性能。     

Robot navigation using panoramic tracking

A vision-based navigation system is presented for determining a mobile robot's position and orientation using panoramic imagery. Omni-directional sensors are useful in obtaining a 360° field of view, permitting various objects in the vicinity of a robot to be imaged simultaneously. Recognizing landmarks in a panoramic image from an a priori model of distinct features in an environment allows a robot's location information to be updated. A system is shown for tracking vertex and line features for omni-directional cameras constructed with catadioptric (containing both mirrors and lenses) optics. With the aid of the panoramic Hough transform, line features can be tracked without restricting the mirror geometry so that it satisfies the single viewpoint criteria. This allows the use of rectangular scene features to be used as landmarks. Two paradigms for localization are explored, with experiments conducted with synthetic and real images. A working implementation on a mobile robot is also shown.     

A strong tracking nonlinear robust filter for eye tracking

Non-intrusive methods for eye tracking are important for many applications of vision-based human computer interaction. However, due to the high nonlinearity of eye motion, how to ensure the robustness of external interference and accuracy of eye tracking pose the primary obstacle to the integration of eye movements into today’s interfaces. In this paper, we present a strong tracking unscented Kalman filter (ST-UKF) algorithm, aiming to overcome the difficulty in nonlinear eye tracking. In the proposed ST-UKF, the Suboptimal fading factor of strong tracking filtering is introduced to improve robustness and accuracy of eye tracking. Compared with the related Kalman filter for eye tracking, the proposed ST-UKF has potential advantages in robustness and tracking accuracy. The last experimental results show the validity of our method for eye tracking under realistic conditions.     

Autonomous ground vehicle path tracking

Autonomous ground vehicle navigation requires the integration of many technologies such as path planning, position and orientation sensing, vehicle control, and obstacle avoidance. The work presented here focuses on the control of a nonholonomic ground vehicle as it tracks a given path. A new path tracking technique called “vector pursuit” is presented. This new technique is based on the theory of screws, which was developed by Sir Robert Ball in 1900. It generates a desired vehicle turning radius based on the vehicle's current position and orientation relative to the position of a point ahead on the planned path and the desired orientation along the path at that point. The vector pursuit algorithm is compared to other geometrical approaches, and it is shown to be more robust, resulting in more accurate path tracking. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spatio-temporal context for robust multitarget tracking

In multitarget tracking, the main challenge is to maintain the correct identity of targets even under occlusions or when differences between the targets are small. The paper proposes a new approach to this problem by incorporating the context information. The context of a target in an image sequence has two components: the spatial context including the local background and nearby targets and the temporal context including all appearances of the targets that have been seen previously. The paper considers both aspects. We propose a new model for multitarget tracking based on the classification of each target against its spatial context. The tracker searches a region similar to the target while avoiding nearby targets. The temporal context is included by integrating the entire history of target appearance based on probabilistic principal component analysis (PPCA). We have developed a new incremental scheme that can learn the full set of PPCA parameters accurately online. The experiments show robust tracking performance under the condition of severe clutter, occlusions, and pose changes     

Adaptive control with optimal robust tracking

The problem of optimal robust tracking in two-parameter adaptive control systems under non-linear time-varying unmodelled dynamics is examined. A new robust stability criterion is derived for analysing the robustness of adaptive control systems with non-linear time-varying model errors. Based on the concept of excess robustness and the theory of the minimum H^∞norm, a simple and feasible design algorithm is presented to synthesize a two-parameter adaptive controller which ensures that adaptive control systems can achieve the object of optimal robust tracking in the presence of non-linear time-varying unmodelled dynamics. Simulation results that demonstrate features of the two-parameter adaptive controller with optimal robust tracking in the light of the design algorithm are included.     

一种鲁棒的自适应带宽跟踪方法

在自适应带宽均值移动算法的基础上, 引入粒子滤波, 提出一种新的目标跟踪方法. 该方法通过更新带宽矩阵以适应目标尺度的变化; 采用加权和方法融合定位检测结果, 使跟踪不易陷入局部最优状态; 对粒子进行收敛采样, 维持粒子多样性, 减小累积误差; 提出一种目标扩展搜索策略, 用于目标丢失后重新搜索跟踪目标. 实验结果表明, 所提出的跟踪方法在复杂场景中表现出了较好的鲁棒性, 且跟踪轨迹平滑.

     

实现机器人动态路径规划的仿真系统

针对机器人动态路径规划问题,提出了在动态环境中移动机器人的一种路径规划方法,适用于环境中同时存在已知和未知,静止和运动障碍物的复杂情况。采用栅格法建立机器人空间模型,整个系统由全局路径规划和局部避碰规划两部分组成。在全局路径规划中,用快速搜索随机树算法规划出初步全局优化路径,局部避碰规划是在全局优化路径的同时,通过基于滚动窗口的环境探测和碰撞规则,对动态障碍物实施有效的局部避碰策略,从而使机器人安全顺利地到达目的地。仿真实验结果说明该方法具有可行性。     

Robot path planning by genetic programming

This paper describes a method to determine the path of a robot that travels around between machine tools in a production line FA factory. This decision is made by the genetic algorithm with Lisp language programming. In the algorithm, the building block method to decide fitness is adopted. The method is applied to a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) that has four machine tools and a robot. This work was presented, in part, at the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 18–20, 1996     

Non-nominal path planning for robust robotic assembly

In manufacturing and assembly processes it is important, in terms of time and money, to verify the feasibility of the operations at the design stage and at early production planning. To achieve that, verification in a virtual environment is often performed by using methods such as path planning and simulation of dimensional variation. Lately, these areas have gained interest both in industry and academia, however, they are almost always treated as separate activities, leading to unnecessary tight tolerances and on-line adjustments.     

Reduction approaches for robust shortest path problems

We investigate the uncertain versions of two classical combinatorial optimization problems, namely the Single-Pair Shortest Path Problem (SP-SPP) and the Single-Source Shortest Path Problem (SS-SPP). The former consists of finding a path of minimum length connecting two specific nodes in a finite directed graph G; the latter consists of finding the shortest paths from a fixed node to the remaining nodes of G. When considering the uncertain versions of both problems we assume that cycles may occur in G and that arc lengths are (possibly degenerating) nonnegative intervals. We provide sufficient conditions for a node and an arc to be always or never in an optimal solution of the Minimax regret Single-Pair Shortest Path Problem (MSP-SPP). Similarly, we provide sufficient conditions for an arc to be always or never in an optimal solution of the Minimax regret Single-Source Shortest Path Problem (MSS-SPP). We exploit such results to develop pegging tests useful to reduce the overall running time necessary to exactly solve both problems.     

Robot control via robust estimated state feedback

The problem of controlling a robot manipulator without needing the precise knowledge of the robot model physical parameters and by using only angular position feedback is considered. Sliding observers are used to estimate the link velocities. This observer and a nonlinear control law are modified, according to the Leitmann procedure, in order to face uncertainties on the robot model parameters and to yield locally exponentially closed-loop systems. The use of discontinuous functions seems to be necessary to reach exponential stability for this particular problem formulation. The same type of results would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain using only nonlinear smooth functions because the switching terms generate a special kind of dynamics into the sliding patch, which is created only by the sign functions     

Towards robust multi-cue integration for visual tracking

Abstract. Even though many of today's vision algorithms are very successful, they lack robustness, since they are typically tailored to a particular situation. In this paper, we argue that the principles of sensor and model integration can increase the robustness of today's computer-vision systems substantially. As an example, multi-cue tracking of faces is discussed. The approach is based on the principles of self-organization of the integration mechanism and self-adaptation of the cue models during tracking. Experiments show that the robustness of simple models is leveraged significantly by sensor and model integration.     

多相关滤波自适应融合的鲁棒目标跟踪

目的 由于目标在复杂场景中可能会发生姿态变化、物体遮挡、背景干扰等情况,目标跟踪仍然是一个具有挑战性的课题。目前判别性相关滤波方法在目标跟踪问题上获得了成功而又广泛的应用。标准的相关滤波方法基于循环偏移得到大量训练样本,并利用快速傅里叶变换加速求解滤波器,使其具有很好的实时性和鲁棒性,但边界偏移带来的消极的训练样本降低了跟踪效果。空间正则化的相关滤波跟踪方法引入空间权重函数,增强目标区域的滤波器作用,在增大了目标搜索区域的同时,也增加了计算时间,而且对于目标形变不规则,背景相似的情景也会增强背景滤波器,从而导致跟踪失败。为此,基于以上问题,提出一种自适应融合多种相关滤波器的方法。方法 利用交替方向乘子法将无约束的相关滤波问题转化为有约束问题的两个子问题,在子问题中分别采用不同的相关滤波方法进行求解。首先用标准的相关滤波方法进行目标粗定位,进而用空间正则化的相关滤波跟踪方法进行再定位,实现了目标位置和滤波模板的微调,提高了跟踪效果。结果 本文算法和目前主流的一些跟踪方法在OTB-2015数据集中100个视频上,以中心坐标误差和目标框的重叠率为评判标准进行了对比实验,本文算法能较好地处理多尺度变化、姿态变化、背景干扰等问题,在CarScale、Freeman4、Girl等视频上都表现出了最好的跟踪结果;本文算法在100个视频上的平均中心坐标误差为28.55像素,平均目标框重叠率为61%,和使用人工特征的方法相比,均高于其他算法,与使用深度特征的相关滤波方法相比,平均中心坐标误差高了6像素,但平均目标框的重叠率高了4%。结论 大量的实验结果表明,在目标发生姿态变化、尺度变化等外观变化时,本文算法均具有较好的准确性和鲁棒性。