(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-12)
Williams, Stephen; Parker, Lonnie T.; Howard, Ayanna M.
The capability to monitor natural phenomena using mobile sensing is a benefit to the Earth science community given the potentially large impact that we, as humans, can have on naturally occurring processes. Observable phenomena that fall into this category of interest range from static to dynamic in both time and space (i.e. temperature, humidity, and elevation). Such phenomena can be readily monitored using networks of mobile sensor nodes that are tasked to regions of interest by scientists. In our work, we hone in on a very specific domain, elevation changes in glacial surfaces, to demonstrate a concept applicable to any spatially distributed phenomena. Our work leverages the sensing of a vision-based SLAM odometry system and the design of robotic surveying navigation rules to reconstruct scientific areas of interest, with the goal of monitoring elevation changes in glacial regions. We validate the output from our methodology and provide results that show the reconstructed terrain error complies with acceptable mapping standards found in the scientific community.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-01)
Howard, Ayanna M.; Park, Chung Hyuk; Remy, Sekou
The robotics field represents the integration of multiple facets of computer science and engineering. Robotics-based activities have been shown to encourage K-12 students to consider careers in computing and have even been adopted as part of core computer-science curriculum at a number of universities. Unfortunately, for students with visual impairments, there are still inadequate opportunities made available for teaching basic computing concepts using robotics-based curriculum. This outcome is generally due to the scarcity of accessible interfaces to educational robots and the unfamiliarity of teachers with alternative (e.g., nonvisual) teaching methods. As such, in this paper, we discuss the use of alternative interface modalities to engage students with visual impairments in robotics-based programming activities. We provide an overview of the interaction system and results on a pilot study that engaged nine middle school students with visual impairments during a two-week summer camp.