In this paper we propose an on-line motion planning strategy for autonomous robots in dynamic and locally observable environments. In this approach, we first visually identify geometric shapes in the environment by filtering images. Then, an ART-2 network is used to establish the similarity between patterns. The proposed algorithm allows that a robot establish its relative location in the environment, and define its navigation path based on images of the environment and its similarity to reference images. This is an efficient and minimalist method that uses the similarity of landmark view patterns to navigate to the desired destination. Laboratory tests on real prototypes demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.
This paper shows a technique based on CHT (Circle Hough Transform) to achieve the optical Braille recognition (OBR). Unlike other papers developed around the same topic, this one is made by using Hough Transform to process the recognition and transcription of Braille cells, proving CHT to be an appropriate technique to go over different non-systematics factors who can affect the process, as the paper type where the text to traduce is placed, some lightning factors, input image resolution and some flaws derived from the capture process, which is realized using a scanner. Tests are performed with a local database using text generated by visual nondisabled people and some transcripts by sightless people; all of this with the support of National Institute for Blind People (INCI for their Spanish acronym) placed in Colombia.
This paper proposes a visual estimator for temperature and oxygen content for closed loop control of carbonization furnace in the production of activated carbon. The carbonization process involves thermal decomposition of vegetal material in the absence of air; this requires rigorous sensing and control of these two variables. The system consists of two cameras, a thermographic camera to estimate the temperature, and a traditional digital camera to estimate the oxygen content. In both cases we use similarity measures between images to estimate the value of the variables into the furnace, estimation that is used to control the furnace flame. The algorithm is tested with reference photos taken at the production plant, and the experimental results prove the performance of the proposed technique.
This paper shows the results of the automatic design of a generic heat sink, through a morphogenesis algorithm done in Matlab. This algorithm is based on two-dimensional fractal images, generated by Lindenmayer systems, which create the heat sink shape. Those shapes iteratively evolve through a genetic algorithm in order to maximize their heat dissipation capability, estimating it through measurements of their surface and volume. Evaluation process was supported by image processing algorithms. Finally finite elements simulations are carried out in order to determine the real heat dissipation capability of each design and thus obtaining some valid heat sink shapes.
This paper proposes a technique and an algorithm used to build a device for people identification through the processing of a low resolution camera image. The infrared channel is the only information needed, sensing the blood reaction with the proper wave length, and getting a preliminary snapshot of the vascular map of the back side of the hand. The software uses this information to extract the characteristics of the user in a limited area (region of interest, ROI), unique for each user, which applicable to biometric access control devices. This kind of recognition prototypes functions are expensive, but in this case (minimalist design), the biometric equipment only used a low cost camera and the matrix of IR emitters adaptation to construct an economic and versatile prototype, without neglecting the high level of effectiveness that characterizes this kind of identification method.
One of most worked issues in the last years in robotics has been the study of strategies to path planning for mobile robots in static and observable conditions. This is an open problem without pre-defined rules (non-heuristic), which needs to measure the state of the environment, finds useful information, and uses an algorithm to select the best path. This paper proposes a simple and efficient geometric path planning strategy supported in digital image processing. The image of the environment is processed in order to identify obstacles, and thus the free space for navigation. Then, using visibility graphs, the possible navigation paths guided by the vertices of obstacles are produced. Finally the A* algorithm is used to find a best possible path. The alternative proposed is evaluated by simulation on a large set of test environments, showing in all cases its ability to find a free collision plausible path.
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