arXiv subjects

Robin Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to Robin Murphy.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Motion Planning for a UAV with a Straight or Kinked Tether

This paper develops and compares two motion planning algorithms for a tethered UAV with and without the possibility of the tether contacting the confined and cluttered environment. Tethered aerial vehicles have been studied due to their advantages such as power duration, stability, and safety. However, the disadvantages brought in by the extra tether have not been well investigated by the robotic locomotion community, especially when the tethered agent is locomoting in a non-free space occupied with obstacles. In this work, we propose two motion planning frameworks that (1) reduce the reachable configuration space by taking into account the tether and (2) deliberately plan (and relax) the contact point(s) of the tether with the environment and enable an equivalent reachable configuration space as the non-tethered counterpart would have. Both methods are tested on a physical robot, Fotokite Pro. With our approaches, tethered aerial vehicles could find their applications in confined and cluttered environments with obstacles as opposed to ideal free space, while still maintaining the advantages from the usage of a tether. The motion planning strategies are particularly suitable for marsupial heterogeneous robotic teams, such as visual servoing/assisting for another mobile, tele-operated primary robot.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2017

Visual Servoing of Unmanned Surface Vehicle from Small Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

This paper presents an algorithm and the implementation of a motor schema to aid the visual localization subsystem of the ongoing EMILY project at Texas A and M University. The EMILY project aims to team an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to augment the search and rescue of marine casualties during an emergency response phase. The USV is designed to serve as a flotation device once it reaches the victims. A live video feed from the UAV is provided to the casuality responders giving them a visual estimate of the USVs orientation and position to help with its navigation. One of the challenges involved with casualty response using a USV UAV team is to simultaneously control the USV and track it. In this paper, we present an implemented solution to automate the UAV camera movements to keep the USV in view at all times. The motor schema proposed, uses the USVs coordinates from the visual localization subsystem to control the UAVs camera movements and track the USV with minimal camera movements such that the USV is always in the cameras field of view.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2017

Research Agenda in Intelligent Infrastructure to Enhance Disaster Management, Community Resilience and Public Safety

Modern societies can be understood as the intersection of four interdependent systems: (1) the natural environment of geography, climate and weather; (2) the built environment of cities, engineered systems, and physical infrastructure; (3) the social environment of human populations, communities and socio-economic activities; and (4) an information ecosystem that overlays the other three domains and provides the means for understanding, interacting with, and managing the relationships between the natural, built, and human environments. As the nation and its communities become more connected, networked and technologically sophisticated, new challenges and opportunities arise that demand a rethinking of current approaches to public safety and emergency management. Addressing the current and future challenges requires an equally sophisticated program of research, technology development, and strategic planning. The design and integration of intelligent infrastructure-including embedded sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced wireless information technologies, real-time data capture and analysis, and machine-learning-based decision support-holds the potential to greatly enhance public safety, emergency management, disaster recovery, and overall community resilience, while addressing new and emerging threats to public safety and security. Ultimately, the objective of this program of research and development is to save lives, reduce risk and disaster impacts, permit efficient use of material and social resources, and protect quality of life and economic stability across entire regions.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2013

Data Survivability in Networks of Mobile Robots in Urban Disaster Environments

Mobile multi-robot teams deployed for monitoring or search-and-rescue missions in urban disaster areas can greatly improve the quality of vital data collected on-site. Analysis of such data can identify hazards and save lives. Unfortunately, such real deployments at scale are cost prohibitive and robot failures lead to data loss. Moreover, scaled-down deployments do not capture significant levels of interaction and communication complexity. To tackle this problem, we propose novel mobility and failure generation frameworks that allow realistic simulations of mobile robot networks for large scale disaster scenarios. Furthermore, since data replication techniques can improve the survivability of data collected during the operation, we propose an adaptive, scalable data replication technique that achieves high data survivability with low overhead. Our technique considers the anticipated robot failures and robot heterogeneity to decide how aggressively to replicate data. In addition, it considers survivability priorities, with some data requiring more effort to be saved than others. Using our novel simulation generation frameworks, we compare our adaptive technique with flooding and broadcast-based replication techniques and show that for failure rates of up to 60% it ensures better data survivability with lower communication costs.

cs.RO↗