Publications by Roland Siegwart

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This paper presents an innovative off-road wheeled mobile robot, named Octopus, able to deal autonomously with obstacles in rough terrain without getting stuck. To achieve such a performance, the robot is equipped with tilt sensors and tactile wheels. The sophisticated locomotion mechanism of Octopus has 8 motorized wheels and a total of 15 degrees of freedom (14 of them are motorized). A two-dimensional static model and a controller are proposed. The inputs of the controller are the contact points with gro

This paper addresses the problem of perception and representation of space for a mobile agent. A probabilistic hierarchical framework is suggested as a solution to this problem. The method proposed is a combination of probabilistic belief with Object Grap ...

Robotic ground vehicles are systems that use gravity and contact forces with the ground to perform motion. In this paper we will focus on n-wheeled vehicles able to perform motion with all the wheels maintaining contact at the same time. The main goal of this work is to establish the implication of the topological architecture of the vehicle mechanism on criteria such as climbing skills, robustness, weight, power consumption, and price. Tools will be provided to help the robot designer to understand the imp

This paper presents an experimental evaluation of different line extraction algorithms on 2D laser scans for indoor environment. Six popular algorithms in mobile robotics and computer vision are selected and tested. Experiments are performed on 100 real da ...

Due to the different properties of the dynamical simulation of multi-body systems, it is important to introduce a classification that allows for the right selection of a simulation type according to the user s needs. The proposed classification divides simulations with respect to the main characteristics, such as speed, accuracy, processing power, preparation work, resulting in the need for very different models of the rover. Using the SOLERO rover as an example, problems are shown that can occur when devel

Climbing is a challenging task for autonomous mobile robots primarily due to requirements for agile locomotion, and high maneuverability as well as robust and efficient attachment and detachment. A novel miniature wall-climbing robot is proposed. The robot ...

This paper describes an algorithm for generating compact feature-based 3D models of indoor environments with a mobile robot. The emphasis lies on the high performance of the algorithm, its possible incremental use, as well as its wide applicability to a variety of sensors as it does not assume any structure in the raw data at all. It recovers planar surfaces of physical environments based on a set of unorganized points and generates a compact, real-time renderable 3D model.

In this paper we present an approach to obstacle avoidance and local path planning for polygonal robots. It decomposes the task into a model stage and a planning stage. The model stage accounts for robot shape and dynamics using a reduced dynamic window. The planning stage produces collision-free local paths with a velocity profile. We present an analytical solution to the distance to collision problem for polygonal robots, avoiding thus the use of look-up tables. The approach has been tested in simulation

This paper presents an improved feature-based 3D SLAM approach for a mobile robot equipped with a rotating laser scanner. The features are represented within the SPmodel, with associated planar segment information based on decimated triangle sets. An Exten ...

In this paper, we present a stereovision algorithm for real-time 6DoF ego-motion estimation, which integrates normalized cross-correlation-based feature tracking and 3D stereo information in the well-known Iterative Closest Point (ICP) scheme. The proposed ...

Recent progress in sensor technology, data processing and integrated actuators has made the development of miniature flying robots fully possible. Micro VTOL1 systems represent a useful class of flying robots because of their strong capabilities for small-area monitoring and building exploration. In this paper we describe the approach that our lab2 has taken to micro VTOL evolving towards full autonomy, and present the mechanical design, dynamic modelling, sensing, and control of our indoor VTOL autonomous

In this paper a hierarchical multi-resolution approach allowing for high precision and distinctiveness is presented. The method combines topological and metric paradigm. The metric approach, based on the Kalman Filter, uses a new concept to avoid the problem of the drift in odometry. For the topological framework the fingerprint sequence approach is used. During the construction of the topological map, a communication between the two paradigms is established. The fingerprint used for topological navigation

This paper presents the genesis of RoboX. This tour guide robot has been built from the scratch based on the experience of the Autonomous Systems Lab. The production of 11 of those machines has been realized by a spin-off of the lab: BlueBotics SA. The goal was to maximize the autonomy and interactivity of the mobile platform while ensuring high robustness, security and performance. The result is an interactive moving machine which can operate in human environments and interacts by seeing humans, talking to

In this paper we will regard the task of operating a public mass exposition with several autonomous robots at a time. This implies questions regarding human-robot interaction, multi-robot control and interaction management. To enable human-robot interaction while guiding a tour we outline the SOUL environment. Multi-robot and interaction management are regarded with respect to visitor density and visitor flow. Concluding we will present and discuss results from the Swiss national exhibition Expo.02 in the t

In this paper we address the problem of inter-preting sensory data for human-robot interaction, especially when gathered from several robots at the same time. After describing motion tracking in this context, we introduce a general framework for situation representation, and how it simplifies extraction of information suitable for complex man-machine dialogs. As a concrete implementation thereof, a narrative description of a complex scene in a public exposition is created. We regard issues of interpreting s

This paper presents general ideas on design and implementation of robots to be used together with groups of animals. This work is part of the European project LEURRE aiming to study, model and control mixed societies of animals and robots. After a short presentation of the general project, the implications on the special requirements will be discussed. The design process of the robot will be described leading to the implementation of the autonomous mini robot called InsBot. This is very compact (19x30x41 mm

In this paper we address the task of human-robot interaction in public mass exposition with several autonomous robots at a time. This implies questions regarding multi-robot control and interaction management with respect to social and commercial aspects of such an exposition. Multi-robot and interaction management is addressed with respect to visitor density and visitor flow. Human-robot interaction is modeled using the SOUL environment. Concluding we will present and discuss results from the Swiss nationa

This paper presents the genesis of a tour guide robot, which has been built from the scratch based on the experience of the Autonomous Systems Lab. The production of 11 of those machines has been realized by a spin-off of the lab: BlueBotics SA. The goal was to maximize the autonomy and interactivity of the mobile platform while ensuring high robustness, security and performance. The result is an interactive moving machine named RoboX. RoboX can operate in human environments and interacts by seeing humans,

Roland Siegwart

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Octopus - An Autonomous Wheeled Climbing Robot

Toward a Multilevel Cognitive Probabilistic Representation of Space

Topological Analysis of Robotic N-Wheeled Ground Vehicles

A Comparison of Line Extraction Algorithms using 2D Laser Rangefinder for Indoor Mobile Robotics

Modeling and optimization of wheeled rovers

Reasoning of abstract motion of a target object through task order with natural language pre-knowledge of object-handling-task programming for a service robot

Toward Micro Wall-Climbing Robots Using Biomimetic Fibrillar Adhesives

A Fast and Robust 3D Feature Extraction Algorithm for Structured Environment Reconstruction

Real-Time Obstacle Avoidance for Polygonal Robots with a Reduced Dynamic Window

3D SLAM using Planar Segments

Stereo-Based Ego-Motion Estimation Using Pixel Tracking and Iterative Closest Point

Design and Control of an Indoor Micro Quadrotor

Multi-resolution SLAM for Real World Navigation

Designing a Secure and Robust Mobile Interacting Robot for the Long Term

Visitor Flow Management using Human-Robot Interaction at Expo.02

Narrative Situation Assessment for Human-Robot Interaction

InsBot: Design of an Autonomous Mini Mobile Robot Able to Interact with Cockroaches

Multi-Robot Human-Interation and Visitor Flow Management

Laser Range Imaging using Mobile Robots: From Pose Estimation to 3d-Models

Design, Implementation and Exploitation of a New Fully Autonomous Tour Guide Robot