Haris Baltzakis Homepage

I am a principal researcher at the Computational Vision and Robotics Lab of the Foundation for Reasearch and Technology - Hellas (FORTH). I recieved a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, in 1997 and the MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Crete in 1999 and 2004 respectively. My phd thesis was entitled "A Hybrid Framework for Mobile Robot Navigation: Modelling with Switching State Space Networks" and was about autonomous mobile robot navigation. My research interests include autonomous robot navigation and computer vision.

Work address

Institute of Computer Science,
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)
Science and Technology Park of Crete,
N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, 
GR-700 13 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
room G-134, ICS-FORTH, STEP-C
phone: +30 2810 391701
fax: +30 2810 391601
e-mail: xmpalt[at]ics[dot]forth[dot]gr
home page: http://www.ics.forth.gr/~xmpalt

Home address

Arch. Makariou 12
GR-71202, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
phone: +30 2810 263436
mobile: +30 6937 288474

Publications

[Journals] [Conferences] [Theses/Reports] [Other]

Robots

Some of the robots I have been working with here at the Computational Vision and Robotics Lab of FORTH. All robots in this list have advanced navigation capabilities and have been extensively tested (in laboratory conditions as well as in various public events) with my autonomous navigation software based on SSSM. The software architecture of all robots in this list is based on ORCA.

[MUFIK] [Lefkos] [Plato] [Peleas] [Indigo] [FHW's twin ME470's] [CVRL's ME470]

Robot installations/public events

Photos and information for various robot installations in public events:

Robot MUFIK at the Natural History Museum of Crete (Jan 2010-)
INDIGO project: Evaluation sessions. FHW, Athens (Jul-Dec 2009)
World Environment Day at the Natural History Museum of Crete (Jun 2009)
«Research and technology week». Zappeion, Athens (Nov 2008)
73rd International fair of Thessaloniki (Sep 2008)
Robot Lefkos at the archeological museum. Heraklion (Jun 2008)
Exhibition of the achievements of FORTH. Ministry of development, Athens (Feb 2007)
71st International fair of Thessaloniki (Sep 2006)
Robot Plato decorting FORTH's Christmass tree (Dec 2005)
70th International fair of Thessaloniki (Sep 2005)
«Research and technology week». Zappeion, Athens (Jul 2005)
Exhibition «Technology for land and water”. Zappeion, Athens (Apr 2005)
Research and technology Festival. FORTH, Heraklion (Mar 2005)
69th International fair of Thessaloniki (Sep 2004)
Webfair evaluation event, “Castello di Belgioioso”. Milan, Italy (Apr 2004)

Research results and demos

Tracking human hands and facial features for HRI (Updated September 2011)
Tracking a human hand manipulating objects (June 2011)
3D model-based pose tracking of rigid objects based on contour information (Updated June 2011)
Body pose tracking using particle filters (Updated Apr 2010)
Facial features tracking and facial expressions recognition (Updated Dec 2010)
Distinguishing between hands and faces (Updated Dec 2010)
Hand/Face tracking via propagation of pixel Hypotheses (Updated: Dec 2009)
Recognizing hand gestures using a rule-based approach (Jan 2008)
Fusing Multiple Visual Cues to track hands and faces (Nov 2007)
Locating and picking up simple objects with a low-end 5 DOF arm (Nov 2006)
Automatic Calibration of P3 Arm Parameters (Nov 2006)
Controling a mobile robot with a simple set of hand gestures (Jun 2006)
Multi-hypothesis SLAM (Apr 2006)
Mobile robot localization using SSSM

Software

GLASS simulator (v1.2)

ORCA robot simulation and Navigation Software (v 2.0.0)

Camera calibration tools

Stereo Calibration tool (updated: Aug 2010)
Single Camera Calibration tool (Nov 2006)

Other tools

Hand Simulation tool (Sep 2006)
Matlab to pascal conversion tool (Nov 2006)

Tutorials/Teaching material

Last Update : February 2011