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Kemp,
Charles C.
Kemp,
Charles C.
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ItemFinding and Navigating to Household Objects with UHF RFID Tags by Optimizing RF Signal Strength(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-09) Deyle, Travis ; Reynolds, Matthew S. ; Kemp, Charles C.We address the challenge of finding and navigating to an object with an attached ultra-high frequency radio- frequency identification (UHF RFID) tag. With current off-the- shelf technology, one can affix inexpensive self-adhesive UHF RFID tags to hundreds of objects, thereby enabling a robot to sense the RF signal strength it receives from each uniquely identified object. The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with a tagged object varies widely and depends on many factors, including the object’s pose, material prop- erties and surroundings. This complexity creates challenges for methods that attempt to explicitly estimate the object’s pose. We present an alternative approach that formulates finding and navigating to a tagged object as an optimization problem where the robot must find a pose of a directional antenna that maximizes the RSSI associated with the target tag. We then present three autonomous robot behaviors that together perform this optimization by combining global and local search. The first behavior uses sparse sampling of RSSI across the entire environment to move the robot to a location near the tag; the second samples RSSI over orientation to point the robot toward the tag; and the third samples RSSI from two antennas pointing in different directions to enable the robot to approach the tag. We justify our formulation using the radar equation and associated literature. We also demonstrate that it has good performance in practice via tests with a PR2 robot from Willow Garage in a house with a variety of tagged household objects.
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ItemIn-Hand Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for Robotic Manipulation(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-05) Deyle, Travis ; Tralie, Christopher J. ; Reynolds, Matthew S. ; Kemp, Charles C.We present a unique multi-antenna RFID reader (a sensor) embedded in a robot's manipulator that is designed to operate with ordinary UHF RFID tags in a short-range, near-field electromagnetic regime. Using specially designed near-field antennas enables our sensor to obtain spatial information from tags at ranges of less than 1 meter. In this work, we characterize the near-field sensor's ability to detect tagged objects in the robots manipulator, present robot behaviors to determine the identity of a grasped object, and investigate how additional RF signal properties can be used for “pre-touch” capabilities such as servoing to grasp an object. The future combination of long-range (far-field) and short-range (near-field) UHF RFID sensing has the potential to enable roboticists to jump-start applications by obviating or supplementing false-positive-prone visual object recognition. These techniques may be especially useful in the healthcare and service sectors, where mis-identification of an object (for example, a medication bottle) could have catastrophic consequences.
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ItemOlder Adults Medication Management in the Home: How can Robots Help?(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-03) Prakash, Akanksha ; Beer, Jenay M. ; Deyle, Travis ; Smarr, Cory-Ann ; Chen, Tiffany L. ; Mitzner, Tracy L. ; Kemp, Charles C. ; Rogers, Wendy A.Successful management of medications is critical to maintaining healthy and independent living for older adults. However, medication non-adherence is a common problem with a high risk for severe consequences [5], which can jeopardize older adults’ chances to age in place [1]. Well-designed robots assisting with medication management tasks could support older adults’ independence. Design of successful robots will be enhanced through understanding concerns, attitudes, and preferences for medication assistance tasks. We assessed older adults’ reactions to medication hand-off from a mobile manipulator with 12 participants (68-79 years). We identified factors that affected their attitudes toward a mobile manipulator for supporting general medication management tasks in the home. The older adults were open to robot assistance; however, their preferences varied depending on the nature of the medication management task. For instance, they preferred a robot (over a human) to remind them to take medications, but preferred human assistance for deciding what medication to take and for administering the medication. Factors such as perceptions of one’s own capability and robot reliability influenced their attitudes.
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ItemVisual Odometry and Control for an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot with a Downward-Facing Camera(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-10) Killpack, Marc D. ; Deyle, Travis ; Anderson, Cressel D. ; Kemp, Charles C.An omnidirectional Mecanum base allows for more flexible mobile manipulation. However, slipping of the Mecanum wheels results in poor dead-reckoning estimates from wheel encoders, limiting the accuracy and overall utility of this type of base. We present a system with a downwardfacing camera and light ring to provide robust visual odometry estimates. We mounted the system under the robot which allows it to operate in conditions such as large crowds or low ambient lighting. We demonstrate that the visual odometry estimates are sufficient to generate closed-loop PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) and LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator) controllers for motion control in three different scenarios: waypoint tracking, small disturbance rejection, and sideways motion. We report quantitative measurements that demonstrate superior control performance when using visual odometry compared to wheel encoders. Finally, we show that this system provides highfidelity odometry estimates and is able to compensate for wheel slip on a four-wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot base.
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ItemRFID-Guided Robots for Pervasive Automation(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-01-15) Deyle, Travis ; Nguyen, Hai ; Reynolds, Matt S. ; Kemp, Charles C.Passive UHF RFID tags are well matched to robots' needs. Unlike lowfrequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) RFID tags, passive UHF RFID tags are readable from across a room, enabling a mobile robot to efficiently discover and locate them. Using tags' unique IDs, a semantic database, and RF perception via actuated antennas, this paper shows how a robot can reliably interact with people and manipulate labeled objects.