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Autonomous
robot navigation with applications to robots in museums and exhibitions |
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Brief description |
Mobile robotic
technology and its application in various sectors is currently an area of
high interest. Research in this field promises advanced developments and
novelties in many aspects. Applications of mobile robotic technology in
public spaces can be found in a field that we informally term “robots in
exhibitions”. In this context, robots can offer alternative ways for
interactive access to exhibition spaces. Two EU funded projects, namely TOURBOT and WebFAIR, addressed the above goal.
TOURBOT started January 2000 and ended successfully February 2002; it pursued
the development of an interactive tour-guide robot able to provide individual
access to museums’ exhibits over the Internet. The results of TOURBOT were
demonstrated through the installation and operation of the system in the real
environment of the three museums that participated in the project as well as
other interested organizations. WebFAIR started December 2001 and ended May
2004. WebFAIR built on TOURBOT results and extended relevant developments to
the more demanding environments of trade shows. Additionally, WebFAIR
introduced tele-conferencing between the remote user and on-site attendants
and employed a multi-robot platform, facilitating thus simultaneous robot
control by multiple users. In order to cope with the requirements imposed by
the specific application areas of TOURBOT and WebFAIR, a number of
scientific, technological and technical issues were addressed. Several
techniques to cope with specific problems have been developed in the above mentioned
projects. Among them are techniques for mapping large environments, an
obstacle-avoidance technique that relies on laser-vision fusion to detect
objects that are invisible to the laser scanner, and an approach to filter
out range measurements coming from moving persons in the process of map
construction. A very important factor for the acceptance of a robotic
tour-guide by the broader public is the degree to which the system smoothly
interacts with both web and on-site visitors. For this reason, in both
projects special emphasis was put in the development of appropriate user
interfaces. We also addressed aspects of the developed interfaces, such as a
speech interface for on-site users and a flexible web-interface with enhanced
visualization capabilities for remote users. |
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Contributions |
Several people have been involved; please
refer to the project web pages. |
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Sample results |
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Lefkos
gives a tour-guide to the visitors of the FHW (Foundation
of the Hellenic World) |
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Related publications
and documents |
·
P. Trahanias, W. Burgard, A.A. Argyros,
D. Haehnel, H. Baltzakis, P. Pfaff, C. Stachniss, “Tourbot and WebFair: Web
Operated Mobile Robots for Telepresence in Populated Exhibitions”, IEEE
Robotics and Automation Magazine, Special issue on EU-funded projects in
Robotics, in press. ·
W. Burgard, P. Trahanias, D. Haehnel, M. Moors, D. Schulz, H.
Baltzakis, A.A. Argyros, “Tele-presence in Populated Exhibitions through
Web-operated Mobile Robots”, Autonomous Robots, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Vol. 15, pp. 299-316, 2003. ·
K. Bekris, K. Hatzopoulos, G. Kazazakis, G. Kontolemakis, M. Masvoula,
N. Tsivourakis, A.A. Argyros, P. Trahanias, “PYTHEAS: An Integrated
Robotic System with Autonomous Navigation Capabilities”, Journal of Image
Processing & Communications, Special Issue on Intelligent Sensing, Image
Processing and Applications, Vol. 8, no. 2, pp.81-92, 2002. ·
P. Trahanias, W. Burgard, D. Haehnel, M. Moors, D. Schulz, H.
Baltzakis, A.A. Argyros, “Interactive Tele-Presence in Exhibitions
Through Web-Operated Robots”, in proceedings of the 11th International
Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR’03),
invited session on Robotics and Art, University of Coimbra, Coimbra,
Portugal, June 30 - July 3, 2003. ·
W. Burgard, P. Trahanias, D. Haehnel, M. Moors, D. Schulz, H.
Baltzakis, A.A. Argyros, “TOURBOT and WebFAIR: Web-Operated Mobile
Robots for Tele-Presence in Populated Exhibitions”, IEEE / RSJ International
Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'02), Full-Day Workshop in “Robots in Exhibitions”, EPFL, ·
A.A. Argyros, P. Georgiades, P. Trahanias, D. Tsakiris “Semi-Autonomous Navigation
of a Robotic Wheelchair”, in proceedings of the KTISIVIOS Panhellenic Conference in Robotics and Automation,
Santorini, Greece, July 28-29, 2001. ·
K. Bekris, K. Hatzopoulos, G. Kazazakis, G. Kontolemakis, M. Masvoula,
N. Tsivourakis, A.A. Argyros, P. Trahanias, “PYTHEAS: An Integrated
Robotic System with Autonomous Navigation Capabilities”, in proceedings of
the KTISIVIOS Panhellenic
Conference in Robotics and Automation, , Santorini, Greece, July 28-29, 2001. ·
G. Giannoulis, M. Coliou,
George S. Kamarinos, Maria Roussou, P. Trahanias, A.A. Argyros,
D. Tsakiris, A. Cremers, D. Schultz, W. Burgard, D. Haehnel, V. Savvaides, P.
Friess, D. Konstantios, A. Katselaki, “Enhancing Museum Visitor Access
Through Robotic Avatars Connected to the Web”, in proceedings of Museums and the Web 2001, Seattle,
USA, March 14-17, 2001. ·
P. Trahanias, A.A. Argyros,
D. Tsakiris, A. Cremers, D. Schulz, W. Burgard, D. Haehnel, V. Savvaides, G.
Giannoulis, M. Coliou, G. Kamarinos, P. Friess, D. Konstantios, A. Katselaki,
“TOURBOT: Interactive Museum Telepresence through Robotic Avatars”, in proceedings
of the 9th International World Wide Web
Conference, Culture Track, Session A-2: Museums on the Web - Case Study,
Organizer: A.M. Ronchi, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 15-19, 2000. The electronic versions of the above publications can be downloaded
from my publications
page. |
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Last update |
31 January 2005,
Antonis Argyros, argyros@ics.forth.gr |
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