Multi-Robot Formation Control Based on CVT Algorithm and Health Optimization Management

In view of the low formation redundancy in the traditional rigid formation algorithm and its difficulty in dynamically adapting to the external environment, this study considers the use of the CVT (centroidal Voronoi tessellation) algorithm to control multiple robots to form the desired formation. This method significantly increases the complexity of the multi-robot system, its structural redundancy, and its internal carrying capacity. First, we used the CVT algorithm to complete the Voronoi division of the global map, and then changed the centroid position of the Voronoi cell by adjusting the density function. When the algorithm converged, it could ensure that the position of the generated point was the centroid of each Voronoi cell and control the robot to track the position of the generated point to form the desired formation. The use of traditional formations requires less consideration of the impact of the actual environment on the health of robots, the overall mission performance of the formation, and the future reliability. We propose a health optimization management algorithm based on minor changes to the original framework to minimize the health loss of robots and reduce the impact of environmental restrictions on formation sites, thereby improving the robustness of the formation system. Simulation and robot formation experiments proved that the CVT algorithm could control the robots to quickly generate formations, easily switch formations dynamically, and solve the formation maintenance problem in obstacle scenarios. Furthermore, the health optimization management algorithm could maximize the life of unhealthy robots, making the formation more robust when performing tasks in different scenarios.

CNN-Based Terrain Classification with Moisture Content Using RGB-IR Images

Unmanned mobile robots in rough terrains are a key technology for achieving smart agriculture and smart construction. The mobility performance of robots highly depends on the moisture content of soil, and past few studies have focused on terrain classification using moisture content. In this study, we demonstrate a convolutional neural network-based terrain classification method using RGB-infrared (IR) images. The method first classifies soil types and then categorizes the moisture content of the terrain. A three-step image preprocessing for RGB-IR images is also integrated into the method that is applicable to an actual environment. An experimental study of the terrain classification confirmed that the proposed method achieved an accuracy of more than 99% in classifying the soil type. Furthermore, the classification accuracy of the moisture content was approximately 69% for pumice and 100% for dark soil. The proposed method can be useful for different scenarios, such as small-scale agriculture with mobile robots, smart agriculture for monitoring the moisture content, and earthworks in small areas.

The Hyphenated Zone: Exploring the Connection Between Actual and Virtual Space

<p>This research operates at the nexus between actual and virtual space. In interior architecture we can use tools to produce virtual experience, being immersed in a world or space different to your physical location. These tools can include, but are not limited to, actual materials, forms, spaces, and arrangements. Virtual space is described as the non-material spatial experience. This experience disconnects us from the physical actual environment that we live in. The best example of this is that of a cinematic experience. When we watch a film in a cinema, the actual physical environment we usually occupy is re-contextualised through a lack of light; our focus is then given to the light and movement produced by the projected image where we become encapsulated by this sense of virtual that we cannot control. We experience a sense of space different to our own and occupy this space although it remains less tangible than the physical world we live in. This thesis proposes a redesign to the public areas for the site of — Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision in Wellington. Currently, the only access the public has to the collection is through digital means, a small cinema and collection of computers in the media library. This project aims to create engaging, embodied encounters with the digital collection of Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision through a series of interior installations within the site. These installations extend the virtual interior created by the sound and moving images further into the boundaries of the actual, physical interior. The exhibition spaces of Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision offer a rich testing site, and provokes the question, how can we create more immersive, engaging encounters of the incredible films collected by Ngā Taonga? The purpose of an archive is to preserve the past for future generations. Although the site currently allows some opportunities for the public to access the collection, it lacks a sense of immersion that can be explored through interior architecture interventions.</p>

The Hyphenated Zone: Exploring the Connection Between Actual and Virtual Space

<p>This research operates at the nexus between actual and virtual space. In interior architecture we can use tools to produce virtual experience, being immersed in a world or space different to your physical location. These tools can include, but are not limited to, actual materials, forms, spaces, and arrangements. Virtual space is described as the non-material spatial experience. This experience disconnects us from the physical actual environment that we live in. The best example of this is that of a cinematic experience. When we watch a film in a cinema, the actual physical environment we usually occupy is re-contextualised through a lack of light; our focus is then given to the light and movement produced by the projected image where we become encapsulated by this sense of virtual that we cannot control. We experience a sense of space different to our own and occupy this space although it remains less tangible than the physical world we live in. This thesis proposes a redesign to the public areas for the site of — Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision in Wellington. Currently, the only access the public has to the collection is through digital means, a small cinema and collection of computers in the media library. This project aims to create engaging, embodied encounters with the digital collection of Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision through a series of interior installations within the site. These installations extend the virtual interior created by the sound and moving images further into the boundaries of the actual, physical interior. The exhibition spaces of Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision offer a rich testing site, and provokes the question, how can we create more immersive, engaging encounters of the incredible films collected by Ngā Taonga? The purpose of an archive is to preserve the past for future generations. Although the site currently allows some opportunities for the public to access the collection, it lacks a sense of immersion that can be explored through interior architecture interventions.</p>

The Effect of Noise Sensitivity on Psychophysiological Response Through Virtual Reality Environment Experience: A Randomized Control Trial

Noise sensitivity is a crucial factor affecting subjective psychophysiological responses to the acoustic environment of various indoor and outdoor spaces. This study examines how noise sensitivity or hyperacusis affects emotional recovery and recovery of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response in experiencing various environments (urban and natural) of virtual reality (VR) that represents the actual environment. A total of 60 general participants with mild depression, stress, and anxiety were examined using a survey to investigate individual characteristics, including noise sensitivity, and used K-means clustering to classify the sensitivity groups. Emotional responses were measured using the Korean edition of Profile of Mood States and physiological responses were measured by assessing heart rate variability. Overall, the emotional recovery effect was greater in the natural environment than the urban environment, and the homeostatic mechanism of the ANS was better maintained, thereby increasing stress resistance. We discovered that noise sensitivity does not have much effect on psychophysiological recovery in the natural environment, but has a significant effect on emotional response in the urban environment. This can be used as basic data in seeking customized emotional recovery for individuals using VR technology in the future.

Construction of New Intelligent Teaching Scene Based on Multimodal Wireless Sensing Technology

With the continuous development of computer technology and the gradual popularization of information technology application, the construction of intelligent teaching scene based on wireless sensing technology plays a more and more important role in modern information education. Taking a primary school as an example, this paper introduces multimodal wireless sensing technology into the construction of intelligent teaching system. The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of a new teaching scene. Firstly, this paper deeply analyzes the sensing mechanism of wireless signal and optimizes the sensing mode, deployment structure, and signal processing in practical application, so that the system can run more effectively in the actual environment. Then, based on multimodal wireless sensing technology, this paper designs and optimizes the basic architecture and functions of intelligent teaching scene. The results show that combining the characteristic information of each mode to get the information conducive to identity confirmation, which can get better recognition performance and improve the accuracy. Combining the information of multiple modes can greatly improve the recognition performance. The user interest model combined with dynamic and static is used to optimize the system recommended resources, so that students can obtain high-quality and highly matched learning resources more quickly and accurately, so as to improve students’ learning efficiency in resource acquisition.

A SINS/SAR/GPS Fusion Positioning System Based on Sensor Credibility Evaluations

A reliable framework for SINS/SAR/GPS integrated positioning systems is proposed for the case that sensors are in critical environments. Credibility is used to describe the difference between the true error and the initial setting standard deviation. Credibility evaluation methods for inertial measurement unit (IMU), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and global positioning system (GPS) are presented. In particular, IMU credibility is modeled by noises and constant drifts that are accumulated with time in a strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS). The quality of the SAR image decides the credibility of positioning based on SAR image matching. In addition, a cumulative residual chi-square test is used to evaluate GPS credibility. An extended Kalman filter based on a sensor credibility evaluation is introduced to integrate the measurements. The measurement of a sensor is either discarded when its credibility value is below a threshold or the variance matrix for the estimated state is otherwise adjusted. Simulations show that the final fusion positioning accuracy with credibility evaluation can be improved by 1–2 times compared to that without evaluation. In addition, the derived standard deviation correctly indicates the value of the position error with credibility evaluation. Moreover, the experiments on an unmanned ground vehicle partially verify the proposed evaluation method of GPS and the fusion framework in the actual environment.

A Robot Dynamic Target Grasping Method Based on Affine Group Improved Gaussian Resampling Particle Filter

Tracking and grasping a moving target is currently a challenging topic in the field of robotics. The current visual servo grasping method is still inadequate, as the real-time performance and robustness of target tracking both need to be improved. A target tracking method is proposed based on improved geometric particle filtering (IGPF). Following the geometric particle filtering (GPF) tracking framework, affine groups are proposed as state particles. Resampling is improved by incorporating an improved conventional Gaussian resampling algorithm. It addresses the problem of particle diversity loss and improves tracking performance. Additionally, the OTB2015 dataset and typical evaluation indicators in target tracking are adopted. Comparative experiments are performed using PF, GPF and the proposed IGPF algorithm. A dynamic target tracking and grasping method for the robot is proposed. It combines an improved Gaussian resampling particle filter algorithm based on affine groups and the positional visual servo control of the robot. Finally, the robot conducts simulation and experiments on capturing dynamic targets in the simulation environment and actual environment. It verifies the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper.

An Indoor Navigation Support for the Student Halls of Residence using Augmented Reality: A Design Perspective

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has become increasingly popular due to its potential use in an indoor environment. AR technology enables virtual information, such as navigation instructions, to be merged into the actual environment via a mobile screen. Using an AR-based Indoor Navigation speeds uptime while also being interactive in searching for a particular building location. Every year when new semester students enrol in the university, some students will have difficulty finding a particular location on the campus. The most searched for building upon arrival at the university is the student halls of residence. While searching for it, students waste time asking others for information or looking for a nearby campus map. Therefore, this project investigates the requirements needed for an AR-based indoor navigation application to be applied within the student halls of residence and identifies technical issues through a small-scale prototype development within a small navigational area. Seventy-one students participated in the feasibility study by responding to a set of questionnaires related to the Student Residence AR indoor navigation application. At the same time, four users with and without previous experience with AR applications evaluated the prototype application. The results identified that the more the students have difficulty searching, the more they require additional time to reach their destination and seek help from others, an excellent reason to implement the Student Residence AR indoor navigation. In addition, the prototype evaluation results discussed issues related to arrow path confusion, distance accuracy, assistive guideline, and software development challenges in AR development that could be beneficial to future developers and researchers.

An influence of characteristics of amplitude fluctuation on detectability of alert sound of electric powered vehicles

The motor sound on electric powered vehicle is quiet at low speeds. Thus, pedestrians have difficulty detecting the vehicles approaching them under urban noise. Although the vehicles were designed to play an alert sound to solve this problem, it has not been solved yet. Our previous studies found that characteristics of amplitude fluctuation, fluctuation frequency, non-periodic fluctuation and amplitude envelope, are effective to make them detect approaching vehicles. However, those studies were investigated under only a specific actual environment, weren't examined validity of detectability in those studies. Here, this paper investigates under another actual environment, examine the validity. Investigations were carried out by using synthesized complex sounds which were designed to have periodic and non-periodic amplitude fluctuations. Those complex sounds have characteristics of amplitude fluctuations in gasoline powered vehicle. Amplitude envelopes such as modulation wave in amplitude-modulated sound were set for deviations for time and amplitude, and amplitude-modulated complex sounds were synthesized using sine wave, sawtooth wave, and rectangle wave. Then, their effects on detectability by pedestrians were assessed in another actual environment. The results found that amplitude fluctuation enhances the ability with which people detect approaching electric powered vehicles in case of some complex sound.