Specifying complex missions for aerial robotics in dynamic environments

Scientific Conference (2016, October)

AEROSTACK: An architecture and open-source software framework for aerial robotics

in 2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) (2016, June)

Historical evolution of the unmanned aerial vehicles to the present

in Dyna (2016), 91(3), 282--288

Towards an Autonomous Vision-Based Unmanned Aerial System against Wildlife Poachers

in Sensors (2015), 15(12), 29861

Poaching is an illegal activity that remains out of control in many countries. Based on the 2014 report of the United Nations and Interpol, the illegal trade of global wildlife and natural resources ... [more ▼]

Poaching is an illegal activity that remains out of control in many countries. Based on the 2014 report of the United Nations and Interpol, the illegal trade of global wildlife and natural resources amounts to nearly $213 billion every year, which is even helping to fund armed conflicts. Poaching activities around the world are further pushing many animal species on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, the traditional methods to fight against poachers are not enough, hence the new demands for more efficient approaches. In this context, the use of new technologies on sensors and algorithms, as well as aerial platforms is crucial to face the high increase of poaching activities in the last few years. Our work is focused on the use of vision sensors on UAVs for the detection and tracking of animals and poachers, as well as the use of such sensors to control quadrotors during autonomous vehicle following and autonomous landing. [less ▲]

Automated low-cost smartphone-based lateral flow saliva test reader for drugs-of-abuse detection

in Sensors (2015), 15(11), 29569--29593

Lateral flow assay tests are nowadays becoming powerful, low-cost diagnostic tools. Obtaining a result is usually subject to visual interpretation of colored areas on the test by a human operator ... [more ▼]

Lateral flow assay tests are nowadays becoming powerful, low-cost diagnostic tools. Obtaining a result is usually subject to visual interpretation of colored areas on the test by a human operator, introducing subjectivity and the possibility of errors in the extraction of the results. While automated test readers providing a result-consistent solution are widely available, they usually lack portability. In this paper, we present a smartphone-based automated reader for drug-of-abuse lateral flow assay tests, consisting of an inexpensive light box and a smartphone device. Test images captured with the smartphone camera are processed in the device using computer vision and machine learning techniques to perform automatic extraction of the results. A deep validation of the system has been carried out showing the high accuracy of the system. The proposed approach, applicable to any line-based or color-based lateral flow test in the market, effectively reduces the manufacturing costs of the reader and makes it portable and massively available while providing accurate, reliable results. [less ▲]

A vision based aerial robot solution for the Mission 7 of the International Aerial Robotics Competition

in 2015 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) (2015, June)

The International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) aims at pulling forward the state of the art in UAV. The Mission's 7 challenge deals mainly with GPS/Laser denied navigation, Robot-Robot interaction ... [more ▼]

The International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) aims at pulling forward the state of the art in UAV. The Mission's 7 challenge deals mainly with GPS/Laser denied navigation, Robot-Robot interaction and obstacle avoidance in the setting of a ground robot herding problem. We present in this paper our UAV which took part in the 2014 competition, in the China venue. This year, the mission was not completed by any participant but our team at Technical University of Madrid (UPM) were awarded with two special prizes: Best Target Detection and Best System Control. The platform, hardware and the developed software used in this top leading competition are presented in this paper. This software has three main components: the visual localization and mapping algorithm; the control algorithms; and the mission planner. A statement of the safety measures integrated in the drone and of our efforts to ensure field testing in conditions as close as possible to the challenger's are also included. [less ▲]

HMPMR strategy for real-time tracking in aerial images, using direct methods

in Machine Vision and Applications (2014), 25(5), 1283-1308

The vast majority of approaches make use of features to track objects. In this paper, we address the tracking problem with a tracking-by-registration strategy based on direct methods. We propose a ... [more ▼]

The vast majority of approaches make use of features to track objects. In this paper, we address the tracking problem with a tracking-by-registration strategy based on direct methods. We propose a hierarchical strategy in terms of image resolution and number of parameters estimated in each resolution, that allows direct methods to be applied in demanding real-time visual-tracking applications. We have called this strategy the Hierarchical Multi-Parametric and Multi-Resolution strategy (HMPMR). The Inverse Composition Image Alignment Algorithm (ICIA) is used as an image registration technique and is extended to an HMPMR-ICIA. The proposed strategy is tested with different datasets and also with image data from real flight tests using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, where the requirements of direct methods are easily unsatisfied (e.g. vehicle vibrations). Results show that using an HMPMR approach, it is possible to cope with the efficiency problem and with the small motion constraint of direct methods, conducting the tracking task at real-time frame rates and obtaining a performance that is comparable to, or even better than, the one obtained with the other algorithms that were analyzed. [less ▲]

Computer vision based general object following for GPS-denied multirotor unmanned vehicles

in 2014 American Control Conference (2014, June)

The motivation of this research is to show that visual based object tracking and following is reliable using a cheap GPS-denied multirotor platform such as the AR Drone 2.0. Our architecture allows the ... [more ▼]

The motivation of this research is to show that visual based object tracking and following is reliable using a cheap GPS-denied multirotor platform such as the AR Drone 2.0. Our architecture allows the user to specify an object in the image that the robot has to follow from an approximate constant distance. At the current stage of our development, in the event of image tracking loss the system starts to hover and waits for the image tracking recovery or second detection, which requires the usage of odometry measurements for self stabilization. During the following task, our software utilizes the forward-facing camera images and part of the IMU data to calculate the references for the four on-board low-level control loops. To obtain a stronger wind disturbance rejection and an improved navigation performance, a yaw heading reference based on the IMU data is internally kept and updated by our control algorithm. We validate the architecture using an AR Drone 2.0 and the OpenTLD tracker in outdoor suburban areas. The experimental tests have shown robustness against wind perturbations, target occlusion and illumination changes, and the system's capability to track a great variety of objects present on suburban areas, for instance: walking or running people, windows, AC machines, static and moving cars and plants. [less ▲]

A system for the design and development of vision-based multi-robot quadrotor swarms

in 2014 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) (2014, May)

This paper presents a cost-effective framework for the prototyping of vision-based quadrotor multi-robot systems, which core characteristics are: modularity, compatibility with different platforms and ... [more ▼]

This paper presents a cost-effective framework for the prototyping of vision-based quadrotor multi-robot systems, which core characteristics are: modularity, compatibility with different platforms and being flight-proven. The framework is fully operative, which is shown in the paper through simulations and real flight tests of up to 5 drones, and was demonstrated with the participation in an international micro-aerial vehicles competition3 where it was awarded with the First Prize in the Indoors Autonomy Challenge. The motivation of this framework is to allow the developers to focus on their own research by decoupling the development of dependent modules, leading to a more cost-effective progress in the project. The basic instance of the framework that we propose, which is flight-proven with the cost-efficient and reliable platform Parrot AR Drone 2.0 and is open-source, includes several modules that can be reused and modified, such as: a basic sequential mission planner, a basic 2D trajectory planner, an odometry state estimator, localization and mapping modules which obtain absolute position measurements using visual markers, a trajectory controller and a visualization module. [less ▲]

A general purpose configurable controller for indoors and outdoors gps-denied navigation for multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles

in Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems (2014), 73(1-4), 387--400