Magued Bishay

Intelligent robotic systems in service of the disabled

The authors argue that intelligence is necessary in robots used for rehabilitation in order to reduce the amount of mental activity needed by the user of these robots. With this in mind, the areas of research relevant to imparting robotic systems with the capability of assuming a more intelligent role are identified. The authors describe their implementation of functionalities such as fuzzy command interpretation, object recognition, face tracking, and task planning and learning, which are part of the ISAC, an intelligent system designed to feed individuals with physical disabilities. >

Design philosophy for service robots

The purpose of this paper is to present our design philosophy for service robotics research and development and to describe our current efforts along this line. Our approach begins with a discussion of the role of service robotics and some features that are unique to them. We then describe our design philosophy that emphasizes compromise and practicality in design. We will use this philosophy in the design and implementation of an intelligent robotic-aid system, based on ISAC and HERO. ISAC is a stationary service robot designed to feed physically handicapped people that is operated by voice command. HERO is a small mobile robot integrated into the system to provide new functionality for the user. We will make use of our design philosophy to solve some of the robot navigation problems and describe how our approach will help to solve these problems efficiently. Some problems will be approached by a technical solution, and other problems will be solved through an expanded user interface and the intelligence of the user. Performance of a useful service at a reasonable cost through close robot-user interaction is our goal.

A low-cost, DSP-based, intelligent vision system for robotic applications

In this paper we present the design and implementation of a novel low-cost active vision system for robotic applications. The system is comprised of two parts: A 4-DOF trinocular active camera head and a DSP-based image acquisition and processing board. Design issues and tradeoffs are discussed. The performance of the system is evaluated by running an edge-based object tracking algorithm that is also presented in this paper. Experimental results show that the system is capable of tracking objects at 30 frames/sec.

Centering peripheral features in an indoor environment using a binocular log-polar 4 DOF camera head

Abstract This paper describes a hardware/software system that successfully detects certain stationary objects in an indoor scene. The system uses a four degree of freedom (4 DOF) pan-tilt-verge stereo camera head (built in-house) coupled with an inexpensive hardware image processor. A log-polar (LP) image mapping facilitates the detection of floor-wall-ceiling boundaries. The mapping also substantially reduces the data bandwidth of the input imagery by transforming a video resolution image into 64 × 64 pixel multiresolution image. A model matching algorithm detects the wanted object in the LP domain. If the object is in the low-resolution periphery of the LP image, the camera must be moved to center the high-resolution fovea on the object where stereo-from-vergeance can be used to calculate the distance to the object.

Visual servoing for a service robot

Abstract ISAC is a distributed service robot system for the physically disabled. The ISAC can identify, reach for, grasp, lift, and manipulate various objects upon user voice-command. Visual servoing controls the robots arm to grasp an object. This paper describes an algorithm that compensates for a number of physical limitations in the systems hardware which hinder the straightforward implementation of visually guided grasping. As a result of overcoming these limitations, the robot arm moves smoothly, continuously, and directly toward the object and grasps it reliably. Hence, this paper is a demonstration of the viability and utility of visual servoing in a less than optimal hardware environment. The paper describes the following components of ISACs software system: the servo-control loop, the image-to-world coordinate transform, a three-phase visual servoing routine which balances speed with visual complexity, and a technique which compensates for network delays. The results of 200 trials demonstrate that, for an object with arbitrary position and orientation, the algorithm causes the arm to grasp the object with a 91% probability of success.

Visual servoing in ISAC, a decentralized robot system for feeding the disabled

ISAC is a distributed robotic feeding system for the physically disabled. This paper describes a visual servoing system which enables ISACs robot arm to grasp an object. The servo control loop is defined. The image to world coordinate transform is deduced. A three-phase visual servoing algorithm which balances speed with complexity is described. A technique for compensating for network delays is presented. The results of 200 trials are analyzed. A success rate of 91% was achieved.

Erratum to "Intelligent Robotic Systems in Service of the Disabled"

|We argue that intelligence is necessary in robots used for rehabilitation in order to reduce the amount of mental activity needed by the user of these robots. With this in mind, the areas of research relevant to imparting robotic systems with the capability of assuming a more intelligent role are identi ed. We describe our implementation of functionalities such as fuzzy command interpretation, object recognition, face tracking, and task planning and learning, which are part of the ISAC, an intelligent system designed to feed individuals with physical disabilities.