We present a ping-pong-playing robot that learns to improve its swings with human advice. Our method learns a reward function over the joint space of task and policy parameters T ×P , so the robot can explore policy space more intelligently in a way that trades off exploration vs. exploitation to maximize the total cumulative reward over time. Multimodal stochastic polices can also easily be le...

In this paper we propose a non-linear model predictive controller architecture (NMPC) for trajectory tracking of an omni-directional mobile robot. The controller employs a simplified process model to predict the evolution of the state of the robot which allows for real-time minimization of the cost function using gradient descent methods. The cost function is chosen so as to penalize the positi...

mobile robot navigation is one of the basic problems in robotics. in this paper, a new approachis proposed for autonomous mobile robot navigation in an unknown environment. the proposedapproach is based on learning virtual parallel paths that propel the mobile robot toward the trackusing a multi-layer, feed-forward neural network. for training, a human operator navigates themobile robot in some...

In this paper, we propose a method for a mobile robot to avoid obstacles in its environment using an omni-directional camera. The method makes an environment map consisting of 3D edge points obtained from omnidirectional camera images and estimates the locations of planes by analysing these 3D edge points so that the robot can avoid walls as obstacles. The method has the advantage that it can g...

Traditionally, the automotive industry has been the largest employer of robots, but their control is inline and programmed to follow planning trajectories. In this case, in the motor's department test of Volskwagen México a semi autonomous robot is developed to generally purpose. Some critical technical problems must be solved in a number of areas, including in dynamics and control. Generally, ...

This paper presents new techniques for simultaneous localization of multiple mobile robots using directional received signal strength (RSS). The RSS data is collected from the XBee wireless module with ZigBee technology. Directional RSS was achieved by a corner reflector antenna installed on the top of each mobile robot. The design parameters of the antenna were chosen by experiments and physic...

This paper proposes a method for the visual-based navigation of a mobile robot in indoor environments, using a single omni-directional (catadioptric) camera. The geometry of the catadioptric sensor and the method used to obtain a bird’s eye (orthographic) view of the ground plane are presented. This representation significantly simplifies the solution to navigation problems, by eliminating any ...

A basic requirement for all mobile robots is a precise, accurate and fast perception of the environment to allow intelligent behavior through interaction with its surrounding. This paper introduces a new method for a reliable, fast and efficient purely omni-directional vision based mobile robot navigation for a closed world environment. The proposed method enables a robot that is driving at a h...

This paper deals with dynamic analysis of mobile robot equipped with three omni-directional wheels. The mobile robots contain subsystems from different physical domains and in the paper bond graphs are chosen as an appropriate technique for modelling and simulation. Model of Robotino mobile robot is developed and simulation is performed using the program BondSim, developed by the first author o...

A comprehensive survey of qualitative representations in cognitive maps is provided in this paper from spatial cognition perspective. The necessity of qualitative representation for robot navigation and map building is discussed with emphasis on different forms of qualitative information represented in different cognitive maps. By discussing the main spatial representations, which are topologic...