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Photorealistic, Reliable 3D Mapping For Robots
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Hans Moravec at Carnegie Mellon University has updated his DARPA-funded MARS program page
, including new info about the possibily of having photo-realistic 3D mapping for robots in the near future. "Our machines will navigate employing a dense 3D awareness of their surroundings, be tolerant of route surprises, and be easily placed by ordinary workers in entirely new routes or work areas. The long-elusive combination of easy installation and reliability should greatly expand cost-effective niches for mobile robots, and make possible a growing market that can itself sustain further development...We expect our new data to bring us further towards photorealism, and more importantly extremely reliable 3D maps." Check out all the slides and movies at the bottom of the page."
I can't wait until this tecnology is used to create a detailed 3D envirment of my home city so I can play counterstrike in it.
It would also be great for all other sorts of simulations when the actual place couldn't be visited.
The Dalek couldn't climb stairs until the 6th Doctor (or was it the 7th?). Thank God we're waaay ahead of them now!
Sounds like they implemented an industrial version of the lego robot reported by slashdot earlier in this article.
Neat stuff...
-- Good judgement comes with experience. -- Experience comes with bad judgement.
HOWEVER, its still a long time coming. In addition, space projects and industry require much more precision and accuracy than academia can offer alone. Keep in mind that CMU already did the "No hands across America" project, where there cars "drove" (they controlled breaks and gas) 99% of the way across the United States autonomously. That was a while ago - so was their total virtual environment mapping dome. Have you seen any autonomous cars for sale? What about 3d videos that you can see from every point of view?
We still have a long way to go.
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While on a tour of the MIT AI labs i was shown a project they were working on, which has similair components to this. Essentially what they were doing was, creating a system in which they could point to a part of the room (with their hand) and vocally tell the computer to project some image there. The project is called Hal The Next Generation Intelligent Room
A rabbit in the hand is worth 4 in the cage
Well, its not exactly a program...more like a system. The algorithms are published every year in academic conferences such as Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (CVPR), International Conference on Computer Vision (ICPR), and IEEE Conference on Robots and Automation (not often). There are a lot of 'ifs' here to getting it to work. IF you have access to a University library, and IF you have an extensive background in discrete calculus and signal processing, IF you can program well, and IF you have the expensive equipment, then you can go ahead and make it work. Actually, CMU will probably give you some code if you ask - if you're at a University. Acadamia is where sharing originated after all...
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Very interesting
Moravec's approach is a classic example of the SMPA (sense-model-plan-act) approach to mobile robotics. A lot of people think this is a dead end - not least among them Rodney Brooks, who advocates what is called the behavior-based approach. Behavior-based robotics basically relies on integrating several independently operating reflexes into a robot, which is much more lifelike. A nifty intermediate approach is taken by Ronald Arkin, who seems a little more pragmatic (and less dogmatic).
You can read some superficial information about all of these guys (and others) in the book Robo sapiens.
A review of Robo sapiens can be found here.
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This Looks Familiar
L. Ron has some strong ganja!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_c
bring us further towards photorealism, and more importantly extremely reliable 3D maps
;p)
Ok, my only question... have they used it for porn yet? (they always seem to use technology first
Other posts you are likely to see:
1. I want a 3D map of Natalie Portman!
2. Can they make a beowulf of these?
3. Im gonna pour hot grits on the robot!
Ok, I just needed to get that out of my system.
Mark Duell
Hmm...you seem to have the wrong impression. It ONLY steered, and didn't do breaks or gas...
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The positive side to this is that this is a necessary prerequisite for things like the robots from the Jetsons.
Image for the future: the Microsoft OS for Robots. Now why does this produce the reaction I an sure it produces? and why does it make me nervous?
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
- A.P. (-1, offtopic, I know.)
--
* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I can't be the only one thinking this technique could be used for some really trippy effects in a sci-fi film...
...navigate employing a dense 3D awareness of their surroundings...
...be easily placed by ordinary workers in entirely new routes or work areas...
we call 'em "MCSEs"
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
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ah, I see it now. The way you said it was a bit ambiguous. I must be thinking of another project which steered and did brake/gas (there are a couple prototypes I've heard about). I think.
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
if i recall correctly, in 100 years (or was it 50?) he claims robots will operate fully autonomously, and act more or less as intelligently as a standard-issue human being. in a little longer, he expects robots will inherit the earth, the stock sci-fi drama of robots being superior to us in every aspect, rationally, physiologically, even creatively/emotionally, and we either make ourselves cyborgs/robots, or the robots proper become the mightiest animal in the urban jungle.
so... maybe the proverbial grain of salt is in order, but of course it's wonderful to see this kind of vast technological progress.
Fuck it
The problem I've always had with Brooks' work (besides the whole "Subsumption Arch is the ONE TRUE WAY" ego trip) is that he always tried to claim some kind of biological relevance where THERE WAS NONE.
I am currently a graduating senior in both biology and computer science, and am very interested in the integration of both, in the areas of neuroethology and biomimetics. Most of the people doing biomimetic robotics (i.e. robots quite strictly based on biological systems, theories, data, and constraints) don't like Brooks for that reason. He created robots, vaguely insect like - they used no real biomechanical data, neural control data, etc., and seemed to suggest that there was some real insect structural and behavioral aspects to them. I also think he's somewhat of a playboy, going from so-called "insect-like" robots (Genghis, Attila, etc.) to his media/attention/funding grabbing monstrosity COG (not that I think $$$ going to AI research is bad in any way), which he makes claims with hubristic abandon about its learning abilities.
I bet in a few years, when interest and funding dies, and he sees what a complex, deep hole he's dug himself into, he'll think of something new to grab headlines about...
BTW for those really interested in more "hard" work on biologically inspired control and networks, look at Eve Marder's page at Brandeis (which I don't have with me at the moment) and have a nice gander at
http://neuromechanics.cwru.edu
The Case Western Reserve University's new graduate program in neuro-mechanical systems. There, Dr. Roger Quinn, and many other researcher are working on some great biomemetic projects, including a robo-roach, and cricket. They use hard biological data to design these guys with. They also do significant work in neural basis of behavior, biomechanics, and neural-controlled prosthetics. I'm also plugging it because there is a 50-50 chance I will be attending the PhD program there next year in sunny, gorgeous Cleveland, OH!
Sincerely,
Kevin Christie
kwchri@wm.edu
LOL... I wish I knew that this would be coming up... Hans is intending to hire me in a couple of months to do the next step.. Putting this in an actual robot. We're not sure exactly what I'll do. He's been busy on the presentation for the last few weeks for us to discuss it.
:)
Most of the stuff you see is data collected several years ago. The office scenes are from 1996.
Gimme a moment to set up a URL.. I'll spit out a binary and a datafile so you can navigate the room yourself. See the result of the program, in all it's brokenness and accuracy.
Current status: (which was interrupted recently due to making the report)
He's about to collect a new dataset with a trinocular vision system, and redo the code to build the occupancy grids. The new dataset should have fewer errors and 'streak' artifacts. (There are subte reasons why it's screwing up on that dataset) His code should be able to build a new occupancy grid every few seconds.
The next stage should include putting it in a real robot. (Which I've seen.. It's a cute, its wheels look like saw blades.) building maps automatically. The eventual target is an external 'head' that can be bolted onto any robot.
(One thing I should finish before he gets back is a new viewer for the occupancy grids. So I can get a 'birds eye idea' of what they look like.. Eyeball them for myself before building code that will be playing with them.)
Too bad I'm a CS Theory weenie instead of robotics.. But it will be one hell of a cool next year.
PS: Tip for everyone... Dumb luck strikes, but you have to make your own luck and grab it when you get it. I met Hans only a couple of months ago. Hans was walking out one day. (By the newly key-carded doors). I was talking to him and asked if he thought the CMU administration were malicious, he said he thought they were inept. I asked what his research was, and it went from there.