All Weather Robot Vision

Complex illumination and meteorological conditions can significantly limit the robustness of robotic vision systems. This book focuses on image pre-processing for robot vision in complex illumination and dynamic weather conditions. It systematically covers cutting-edge models and algorithms, approaching them from a novel viewpoint based on studying the atmospheric physics and imaging mechanism. It provides valuable insights and practical methods such as illumination calculations, scattering modeling, shadow/highlight detection and removal, intrinsic image derivation, and rain/snow/fog removal technologies that will enable robots to be effective in diverse lighting and weather conditions, i.e., ensure their all-weather operating capacity. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students and engineers in the fields of robot engineering and computer science. .

Complex illumination and meteorological conditions can significantly limit the robustness of robotic vision systems. This book focuses on image pre-processing for robot vision in complex illumination and dynamic weather conditions. It systematically covers cutting-edge models and algorithms, approaching them from a novel viewpoint based on studying the atmospheric physics and imaging mechanism. It provides valuable insights and practical methods such as illumination calculations, scattering modeling, shadow/highlight detection and removal, intrinsic image derivation, and rain/snow/fog removal technologies that will enable robots to be effective in diverse lighting and weather conditions, i.e., ensure their all-weather operating capacity. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students and engineers in the fields of robot engineering and computer science.

Over the past five years robot vision has emerged as a subject area with its own identity. A text based on the proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Vision and Sensor-based Robots held at the General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan in 1978, was published by Plenum Press in 1979. This book, edited by George G. Dodd and Lothar Rosso!, probably represented the first identifiable book covering some aspects of robot vision. The subject of robot vision and sensory controls (RoViSeC) occupied an entire international conference held in the Hilton Hotel in Stratford, England in May 1981. This was followed by a second RoViSeC held in Stuttgart, Germany in November 1982. The large attendance at the Stratford conference and the obvious interest in the subject of robot vision at international robot meetings, provides the stimulus for this current collection of papers. Users and researchers entering the field of robot vision for the first time will encounter a bewildering array of publications on all aspects of computer vision of which robot vision forms a part. It is the grey area dividing the different aspects of computer vision which is not easy to identify. Even those involved in research sometimes find difficulty in separating the essential differences between vision for automated inspection and vision for robot applications. Both of these are to some extent applications of pattern recognition with the underlying philosophy of each defining the techniques used.

An international all-star cast of thinkers, artists, and policy makers joins forces for a transparent, united, democratic Europe. This 2020 Edition features contributions by Kate Aronoff, Bill McKibben, Evgeny Morozov, Jerome Roos, and more. The European Union was an exceptional achievement. It brought together and in peace peoples speaking different languages and submersed in different cultures, proving that it was possible to create a shared framework of human rights across a continent that was not long ago tormented by murderous chauvinism, racism, and barbarity. It could have been the proverbial Beacon on the Hill, showing the world how peace and solidarity may be snatched from the jaws of age-old conflict and bigotry. But things turned out differently. Today, a common bureaucracy and a common currency divide Europeans who were beginning to unite despite their different languages and cultures. A confederacy of myopic politicians, economically naïve officials, and financially incompetent ‘experts’ submit slavishly to the edicts of financial and industrial conglomerates, alienating people and stirring up a dangerous anti-European backlash. Proud peoples are being turned against each other. Nationalism, extremism and racism are being re-awakened. With contributions from some of the world’s foremost thinkers, artists and politicians covering the full spectrum of concerns for the future of the Union, this volume presents realistic and viable alternatives to the mainstream barrage of dreadful prospects - a true vision for Europe.

The two-volume set CCIS 1959 and 1960 constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 38th CCF National Conference on Computer Applications, CCF NCCA 2023, held in Suzhou, China, during July 16–20, 2023. The 39 revised full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 197 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Volume I: Artificial intelligence and application. Volume II: Data science and technology; pattern recognition and machine learning; network communication and security; frontier and comprehensive applications.

This book presents a unique examination of mobile robots and embedded systems, from introductory to intermediate level. It is structured in three parts, dealing with Embedded Systems (hardware and software design, actuators, sensors, PID control, multitasking), Mobile Robot Design (driving, balancing, walking, and flying robots), and Mobile Robot Applications (mapping, robot soccer, genetic algorithms, neural networks, behavior-based systems, and simulation). The book is written as a text for courses in computer science, computer engineering, IT, electronic engineering, and mechatronics, as well as a guide for robot hobbyists and researchers.

Over the past five years robot vision has emerged as a subject area with its own identity. A text based on the proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Vision and Sensor-based Robots held at the General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan in 1978, was published by Plenum Press in 1979. This book, edited by George G. Dodd and Lothar Rosso!, probably represented the first identifiable book covering some aspects of robot vision. The subject of robot vision and sensory controls (RoViSeC) occupied an entire international conference held in the Hilton Hotel in Stratford, England in May 1981. This was followed by a second RoViSeC held in Stuttgart, Germany in November 1982. The large attendance at the Stratford conference and the obvious interest in the subject of robot vision at international robot meetings, provides the stimulus for this current collection of papers. Users and researchers entering the field of robot vision for the first time will encounter a bewildering array of publications on all aspects of computer vision of which robot vision forms a part. It is the grey area dividing the different aspects of computer vision which is not easy to identify. Even those involved in research sometimes find difficulty in separating the essential differences between vision for automated inspection and vision for robot applications. Both of these are to some extent applications of pattern recognition with the underlying philosophy of each defining the techniques used.

Contents:Editorial (H I Christensen et al.)The Harvard Binocular Head (N J Ferrier & J J Clark)Heads, Eyes, and Head-Eye Systems (K Pahlavan & J-O Eklundh)Design and Performance of TRISH, a Binocular Robot Head with Torsional Eye Movements (E Milios et al.)A Low-Cost Robot Camera Head (H I Christensen)The Surrey Attentive Robot Vision System (J R G Pretlove & G A Parker)Layered Control of a Binocular Camera Head (J L Crowley et al.)SAVIC: A Simulation, Visualization and Interactive Control Environment for Mobile Robots (C Chen & M M Trivedi)Simulation and Expectation in Sensor-Based Systems (Y Roth & R Jain)Active Avoidance: Escape and Dodging Behaviors for Reactive Control (R C Arkin et al.) Readership: Engineers and computer scientists. keywords:Active Vision;Robot Vision;Computer Vision;Model-Based Vision;Robot Navigation;Reactive Control;Robot Motion Planning;Knowledge-Based Vision;Robotics