A thorough empirical evaluation of multi-agent robotic systems is greatly facilitated if the true state of the world over time can be obtained. The accuracy of the beliefs as well as the overall performance can then be measured objectively and efficiently. In this paper we present a system for determining the ground truth state of the world, similar to the ceiling cameras used in RoboCup small-...

This paper presents an approach for a fully automated measuring of a self-contained indoor scene in 2D using a mobile platform. A novel sensor is used, designed for the acquisition of precise floor plan scans, mounted on an ordinary mobile robot. The software framework is configured to optimize the accuracy and the completeness of the acquired data. Therefore an exploration strategy is presente...

In this paper, we present recent results with using range from radio for mobile robot localization. In previous work we have shown how range readings from radio tags placed in the environment can be used to localize a robot. We have extended previous work to consider robustness. Specifically, we are interested in the case where range readings are very noisy and available intermittently. Also, w...

Ground truth detection systems can be a crucial step in evaluating and improving algorithms for self-localization on mobile robots. Selecting a ground truth system depends on its cost, as well as on the detail and accuracy of the information it provides. In this paper, we present a low cost, portable and real-time solution constructed using the Microsoft Kinect RGB-D Sensor. We use this system ...

Social robots need to understand the affective state of the humans with whom they interact. Successful interactions require understanding mood and emotion in the short term, and personality and attitudes over longer periods. Social robots should also be able to infer the desires, wishes, and preferences of humans without being explicitly told. We investigate how effectively affective state can ...

Elastically-suspended loads can reduce the energetic cost of legged robot locomotion over flat ground. In this paper, we studied the effect of elastically-suspended loads on the mobility of legged robot locomotion over rough terrain. The power input and speed of a simple hexapod robot running over rough terrain with an elastically-suspended load and a rigidly-attached load was compared. On aver...

We study the problem of achieving global behavior in a group of distributed robots using only local sensing and minimal communication, in the context of formations. The goal is to have N mobile robots establish and maintain some predetermined geometric shape. We report results from extensive simulation experiments, and 40+ experiments with four physical robots, showing the viability of our appr...

In this article, a fast and reliable map-merging algorithm is proposed to produce a global two dimensional map of an indoor environment in a multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) process. In SLAM process, to find its way in this environment, a robot should be able to determine its position relative to a map formed from its observations. To solve this complex problem, simultan...

Humanoid robot requires a robust prevention system against external disturbances to protect itself from falling to the ground and to perform its tasks completely. In this paper, a Falling Prevention System for humanoid robot is proposed to avoid falling from the disturbances, and helps humanoid robot recover its balance from external force by taking a step. The algorithm for the Falling Prevent...

mobile robot navigation is one of the basic problems in robotics. in this paper, a new approachis proposed for autonomous mobile robot navigation in an unknown environment. the proposedapproach is based on learning virtual parallel paths that propel the mobile robot toward the trackusing a multi-layer, feed-forward neural network. for training, a human operator navigates themobile robot in some...