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Current Projects
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Collaborative Observatories for Natural Environments (CONE)
(2005-2009)
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 Currently,
scientific study of animals in situ requires
vigilant observation of detailed animal
behavior over weeks or months. When animals
live in remote and/or inhospitable
locations, observation can be an arduous,
expensive, dangerous, and lonely experience
for scientists. The project proposes a new
class of hybrid teleoperated/autonomous
robotic "observatories" that allow groups of
scientists, via the internet, to remotely
observe, record, and index detailed animal
activity. Such observatories are made
possible by emerging advances in robotic
cameras, long-range wireless networking, and
distributed sensors.
This project is a
collaborative effort by computer scientists
and engineers from Texas A&M and UC Berkeley
consulting with natural scientists and
documentary filmmakers. The goal is to
advance the fundamental understanding of
automated and collaborative systems that
combine sensors, actuators, and human input
to observe and record detailed natural
behavior in remote settings.
Project CONE is a joint adventure
between field biologists and us as
computer scientists. The CONE
project has been deployed in several
sites and spawn a variety of sub
projects including the assist for
searching of the legendary
ivory-billed woodpeckers in central
Arkansas (Project ACONE)
and
investigating the potential link
between bird range change and
climate change in south Texas
(Project CONE-Welder).
For more
information please see the
project website. |
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Robotic BioTelemetry (RBT)
(2007-2012)
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This project aims to develop new algorithms and systems to quantitatively measure natural habitats and animal activities via remotely controlled networked robotic cameras. Since human activity can be very disturbing to the animal under scrutiny and its colony, the project will develop new non-intrusive biotelemetry methods based on emerging advances in high-resolution networked robotic cameras and long-range wireless networking. With the potential of changing the way to study nature, the project will allow groups of scientists, via the internet, to remotely identify and measure in real-time important variables such as quantity, size, volume, speed, motion pattern, and behavior characteristics. Since objects or its collection in a natural environment are often nonlinear, non-deterministic, non-convex/concave, irregular, deformable, and time-variant / transient, the challenging problem requires new algorithm and system development. Collaborating with natural scientists, the project undertake this long term effort by building prototypes and investigating new metrics, mathematical models, algorithms, and architectures for robot biotelemetry systems in a five-year integrated research and educational project that will emphasize active robotic actuation, automation, collaboration, and optimal system design.
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Autonomous Motorcycle and Vision-based
Navigation
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This project initially aimed at
developing a vision-based navigation
system for our
autonomous motorcycle
to attend
Darpa Grand Challenge
(DGC) 2005.
The project involves into two subprojects
including autonomous motorcycle development
and vision-based navigation for outdoor
robots. For the motorcycle, we have
developed balancing algorithms and will
continue work on acrobatic moves using small
electric bikes. More results will be shown
later.
After DGC 2005, our focus is the
navigation system. We have developed models
and algorithms using cheap Inertial
Measurement Unit (IMU) and monocular vision
system.
TamuBot is the main robot used for
testing and validation. |
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Sensor Network localization |
 This
project studies the localization of sensor
network nodes using a mobile robot with a
directional antenna. Different from other
similar projects, we focus on the
localization in a hostile environment. One
typical scenario is to detect and destroy a
sensor network deployed by the enemy in
a battlefield. In such an environment, we cannot
decode the received packet to know the
network information. We are developing a scheme to guide the
robot through the hostile environment
to search and locate the sensor nodes based
on signal strength and communication
patterns. This scheme can be adapted for
applications such as search and rescue. |
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TamuBot |
 During
the research process, we have
accumulated quite experience in working
with robotic hardware. We were part of ghostrider team that developed an
autonomous motorcycle.
Over the years, we have also
developed our own version of four-wheeled skid-steering robots. It is named as
TamuBot project.
The robot has been a workhorse for
our research projects. We have
released the design details including mechanisms, motor control board design, software source code in this website.
We hope to contribute to robotics
community for those who plan to
build their own robot.
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Past Projects |
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Project Observe/Co-Opticon/ShareCam (2002-2005) |
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The
Observe/Co-opticon/ShareCam is a machine
for democratic optics, allowing a
network of participants to
cooperatively control the viewpoint
of a shared video camera.
The system combines a networked
robotic video camera with a
graphical user interface that allows
many internet-based viewers to share
simultaneous control of the camera
by specifying desired viewing
frames. Algorithms compute the
optimal camera frame based on all
requests, and position the camera
accordingly. |
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Active Panorama and Evolving Panorama (2003-2006) |
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Our Active Panorama project provides a
context + focus interface for applications
such as videoconferencing or remote
observation with limited bandwidth. We use
one pre-calibrated pan-tilt-zoom camera to
construct a high resolution panoramic image,
which serves as context of the remote
environment. We superimpose a live video
stream on top of the panorama so that the
focused activity appear to live in the
panorama. We update the background panorama
on the fly as the camera moves. Since we
only use one camera and one live video
stream, the system requires very limited
bandwidth and hardware support. |
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The Tele-Actor (2000-2004) |
 The
"Tele-Actor" is a skilled human with cameras
and microphones connected to a wireless
digital network. Live video and audio are
broadcast to participants via the Internet
or interactive television. Participants not
only view, but interact with each other and
with the Tele-Actor by voting on what to do
next. Our "Spatial Dynamic Voting" (SDV)
interface incorporates group dynamics into a
variety of online experiences.
For more
information please see the project
website. |
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The
Tele-twister (2003-2004) |
 Have
fun while learning about gravity, anatomy,
ergonomics, and social dynamics! The party
game Twister, introduced in 1966, was the
first board game played with human bodies.
This version, "Tele-Twister" is a game
designed for the Internet. As in the
original, the game is played with human
bodies(the twisters), but in this version
you get to play along and direct their moves
from the comfort of your computer. As a
player, you log in and are automatically
assigned to either the Red or Blue team. You
view and play from your computer screen. You
see two twisters (real humans), one dressed
in red, the other in blue. They respond to
moves chosen by the Red and Blue online
teams. Your team chooses moves for the
twisters (eg, "right hand YELLOW") using a
Java technology-based online interface.
For more
information please see the project
website. |
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