We present a parallel path planning method that is able to automatically handle multiple goal configurations as input. There are two basic approaches, goal switching and bidirectional search, which are combined in the end. Goal switching dynamically selects a favourite goal depending on some distance function. The bi-directional search supports the backward search direction from the goal to the...

ABSTRACT In this paper, we describe a design and construction method for an omni directional vision system and how to use it on autonomous robots for object detection, localization and also collision avoidance in middle size league of RoboCup. This vision system uses two mirrors, a flat and a hyperbolic one. The flat mirror is used for detecting very close objects around the robot body, moreove...

Direction of arrival (DOA) guided automated target acquisition and docking system is proposed for mobile robots employing the dual-directional antenna system. The dual-directional antenna estimates the DOA of the signal of interest using the ratio of the signal strengths between two adjacent antennas. In practice, DOA estimation poses a significant technical challenge, since the RF signal is ea...

We propose the architecture of a novel robot system merging biological and artificial intelligence based on a neural controller connected to an external agent. We initially built a framework that connected the dissociated neural network to a mobile robot system to implement a realistic vehicle. The mobile robot system characterized by a camera and two-wheeled robot was designed to execute the t...

A lot of plumbings exist in factories and so on. Automated inspection of the plumbings by robots is desirable. Many of existing inspection robots have to rotate their cameras because conventional cameras can see only one direction while a plumbing has a cylindrical geometry. The use of an omnidirectional camera is effective for the solution of such problem. However, the shape measurement is dif...

We address the problem of indoor mobile robot navigation by center following without prior environmental information based on visual information provided by a single camera. Recently, the research on the mobile robot of the automatic moving type works actively (DeSouza & Kak, 2002). It is an important problem to acquire moving environment information to move automatically. Various sensors such ...