Henrik Schumann-Olsen

Adaptive Snake Robot Locomotion: A Benchmarking Facility for Experiments

A benchmarking facility for snake robot locomotion is presented, including the design of a snake-like robot extended with a sensor setup combining three-dimensional vision and an array of force sensors to register friction and impulse forces. A surrounding, modular environment consisting of a reconfigurable obstacle course and a ceiling mounted camera system is also presented. This enables research into adaptive obstacle-based and non-obstacle-based movement patterns for robotic snakes. Experimental results show possibilities for detailed data analysis of snake robot locomotion. Thus, the facility may be a common reference on which to experiment and evaluate future ideas.

A robotic concept for remote maintenance operations: A robust 3D object detection and pose estimation method and a novel robot tool

Future normally-unmanned oil platforms offer potentially significantly lower commissioning and operation costs than their current manned counterparts. The ability to initiate and perform remote inspection and maintenance (I&M) operations is crucial for maintaining such platforms. This paper presents a system solution, including key components such as a 3D robot vision system, a robot tool and a control architecture for remote I&M operations on processes similar to those on topside oil platforms. In particular, a case study on how to automatically replace a battery in a wireless process sensor is investigated. A novel robot tool for removing and re-attaching the sensor lid has been designed. Moreover, a robot control architecture for remote control of industrial-type robot manipulators is presented. A 3D robot vision system for localizing the sensor lid and the battery has been developed. The system utilizes structured light, using an off-the-shelf projector and a standard machine vision camera. A novel, robust and fast vision algorithm called 3D-MaMa has been adapted to work for object localization and pose estimation in complex scenes, in our case the process equipment in our lab facility. Experimental results from our lab facility are presented which describe a series of battery replacement operations for various unknown positions of the wireless sensor, and we report on accuracies and success ratios. The experiments demonstrate that the described vision system is able to recover the full pose and orientation of an object, and that the results are directly applicable for controlling advanced robot contact operations. Moreover, the custom-built lid operation tool demonstrates successful results.

System for estimation of pin bone positions in pre-rigor salmon

Current systems for automatic processing of salmon are not able to remove all bones from freshly slaughtered salmon. This is because some of the bones are attached to the flesh by tendons, and the fillet is damaged or the bones broken if the bones are pulled out. This paper describes a camera based system for determining the tendon positions in the tissue, so that the tendon can be cut with a knife and the bones removed. The location of the tendons deep in the tissue is estimated based on the position of a texture pattern on the fillet surface. Algorithms for locating this line-looking pattern, in the presence of several other similar-looking lines and significant other texture are described. The algorithm uses a model of the patterns location to achieve precision and speed, followed by a RANSAC/MLESAC inspired line fitting procedure. Close to the neck the pattern is barely visible; this is handled through a greedy search algorithm. We achieve a precision better than 3 mm for 78% of the fish using maximum 2 seconds processing time.

System for reading braille embossed on beverage can lids for authentication

The paper describes a system for reading embossed Braille patterns on used aluminum beverage container lids. The intent of the system is to check whether the used containers are entitled to a refund. The lids have strong specular reflections. The reflections are avoided by a novel method that illuminates the lid alternating from two angles, and acquires two separate images. This illumination method is more compact than existing methods. We use the extended maxima algorithm to detect the Braille dots, and a cluster-based pattern point matching algorithm to recognize a pre-defined Braille pattern. The algorithms are customized to increase speed using a priori information. The system was evaluated on a test set containing 225 images. The median time used for analyzing one beverage can was 1 second, and the recognition rate was 94 percent.

A real-time 3D range image sensor based on a novel tip-tilt-piston micromirror and dual frequency phase shifting

Structured light is a robust and accurate method for 3D range imaging in which one or more light patterns are projected onto the scene and observed with an off-axis camera. Commercial sensors typically utilize DMD- or LCD-based LED projectors, which produce good results but have a number of drawbacks, e.g. limited speed, limited depth of focus, large sensitivity to ambient light and somewhat low light efficiency. We present a 3D imaging system based on a laser light source and a novel tip-tilt-piston micro-mirror. Optical interference is utilized to create sinusoidal fringe patterns. The setup allows fast and easy control of both the frequency and the phase of the fringe patterns by altering the axes of the micro-mirror. For 3D reconstruction we have adapted a Dual Frequency Phase Shifting method which gives robust range measurements with sub-millimeter accuracy. The use of interference for generating sine patterns provides high light efficiency and good focusing properties. The use of a laser and a bandpass filter allows easy removal of ambient light. The fast response of the micro-mirror in combination with a high-speed camera and real-time processing on the GPU allows highly accurate 3D range image acquisition at video rates.

ANITA - an FTIR-based Continuous Air Quality Monitoring System on the ISS (International Space Station)

ANITA applies a modified commercial FTIR instrument and novel analysis SW that solves most challenges of multi-gas measurement. Its fast and fully automatic analyses make it suitable for air quality monitoring and other multi-component measurements.