No abstract

The traditional literature on camera network design focuses on constructing automated algorithms. These require problem-specific input from experts in order to produce their output. The nature of the required input is highly unintuitive, leading to an impractical workflow for human operators. In this work we focus on developing a virtual reality user interface allowing human operators to manually design camera networks in an intuitive manner. From real world practical examples we conclude that the camera networks designed using this interface are highly competitive with, or sometimes even superior to, those generated by automated algorithms, but the associated workflow is more intuitive and simple. The competitiveness of the human-generated camera networks is remarkable because the structure of the optimization problem is a well known combinatorial NP-hard problem. These results indicate that human operators can be used in challenging geometrical combinatorial optimization problems, given an intuitive visualization of the problem.

In this paper we consider the problem of generating inspection paths for robots. These paths should allow an attached measurement device to perform high quality measurements. We formally show that generating robot paths, while maximizing the inspection quality, naturally corresponds to the submodular orienteering problem. Traditional methods that are able to generate solutions with mathematical guarantees do not scale to real world problems. In this work we propose a method that is able to generate near-optimal solutions for real world complex problems. We experimentally test this method in a wide variety of inspection problems and show that it nearly always outperforms traditional methods. We furthermore show that the near-optimality of our approach makes it more robust to changing the inspection problem, and is thus more general.Keywords Robotic inspection ¨Inspection planning ¨Submodular orienteering ¨Wind turbine inspection ¨Drone inspection Figure 1: A 360vr video experience that explains and visualizes this work is available online (https://youtu.be/Fg-ulGRyw2w). This video can be watched on a regular computer, or on a smartphone, but the optimal experience requires a virtual reality headset. Click this figure or scan the QR code to get redirected.

In this paper, we present a new fully automated scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) measurement technique. In contrast to existing scanning LDV techniques which use a 2D camera for the manual selection of sample points, we use a 3D Time-of-Flight camera in combination with a CAD file of the test object to automatically obtain measurements at pre-defined locations. The proposed procedure allows users to test prototypes in a shorter time because physical measurement locations are determined without user interaction. Another benefit from this methodology is that it incorporates automatic mapping between a CAD model and the vibration measurements. This mapping can be used to visualize measurements directly on a 3D CAD model. The proposed method is illustrated with vibration measurements of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

No abstract