University of Padova Dept of Information Engineering IASLab

University of Padova Dept. of Information Engineering IAS-Lab (Intelligent Autonomous System Lab) An robotic sculpture speaking to people “Would you like a drink? ” Fiberglass and robotics Albano Guatti, 2005 Emanuele Menegatti, A. Pretto, S. Tonello, A. Lastra, A Guatti IT+Robotics srl, Contrà Valmerlara, 21 - 36100 Vicenza (VI) www. it-robotics. it

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Introduction 1/1 Targets and Results Goals: - An interactive robotic sculpture conceived and realized by the artist Albano Guatti. - The robotic part was totally developed by the IAS-lab and IT+Robotics according to Guatti’s concept Requirements: The robot should be autonomous and it should be able: - to move in a unknown and unstructured environment in a ‘natural’ way - to locate people in the environment, - to navigate toward a person avoiding the obstacles - to approach the person - to ask the person different pre-recorded questions. The more likely is: ”Would you like a drink? ” 1

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The robotic sculpture overview 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The omnidirectional camera The sensor • it constitutes the neck of the feminine statue • it is embedeed in the appearance of the statue • 360° field of view enables to locate the person without turning on the spot • Logitech USB webcam+custom made hyperbolic mirror+perspex cylinder Image processing: • Background subtraction • Skin detection • Robustness to light variations 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Skin detection Metodology 1/2 The skin detection • heuristic algorithm • robust to lighting • no need for calibration • based on the statistic of the moments of pixel distribution • bg nomalized color space 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The sonars The sensor: • 24 Polaroid 6500 series • A ring around the sculpture base at 30 cm from the floor • They can sense an obstacle of 3 -4 cm diameter at 50 cm • Low reliability beyond 2 m Software: • sonars data are processed using a modified VHF (Vector Field Histogram) • All the readings of the sonars are organized inside a grid, of dimensions 4 x 4 m 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The floor sensors The sensor: • Four custom made floor sensor to detect floor discontinuties in the front of the robot • Designed and realized at IAS-Lab • High brightness led + photoresistor + circuitry • Readout in Pioneer 2 board analog input Software: • Floor sensor reflectivity is measured at 4 Hz • Data are stored in a queue • When all data in the queue are over a threshold a floor discontinuity is detected 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The driving system: • 2 independent driven wheels • 2 custer wheel to balance • 1 Pioneer 2 motor control board Pioneer 2 control board: • P 2 OS (Pioneer 2 Operating System) • several I/O ports: – Digital IN – Analog IN – Motor control port 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The laudspeakers The audio system: • 2 automotive loudspeakers • 1 automotive audio-amplifier • Headphone audio output of a laptop The computer: The computer • Acer Travel. Mate 290 Centrino 1. 6 GHz 512 MB RAM – provides computational power – Sends commands to Pioneer 2 board via USB/Serial port – Grab camera’s images via USB – Plays the voice files 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Metodology 1/2 The behaviours • • • The robot is controlled by a finite state machine The events detected in the envronment trigger the change of state LETMEGOTHROUGH The software is written in C++ running under Linux Multi-threding software which scheduling is controlled by ADE (i. e. IAS-Lab scheduling and RANDOM networking system) Graphical user interface for non-professional users SAY STEADY GOTOPERSON 2

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Conclusions 1/1 IAS-Lab - From experience of Artisti Robo. Cup team into a commercial product: -IAS-Lab of the University of Padua -IT+Robotics srl a spin-off of the University of Padua. - The robot performed at: -Palace Golinelli (Venice, Italy) 3 days 8 h -SMAU 2005 (Milan, Italy) 5 days 10 h -Discovery Film Festival 2006 (Rovereto, Italy) 3 days 8 h It has encountered hundreds of people and avoided them! - April, 12 2007 ICRA 2007 14

University of Padova An interactive robotic sculpture Prototypes 2/2 Video demos IT+Robotics srl, Contrà Valmerlara, 21 - 36100 Vicenza (VI) www. it-robotics. it June, 3 2006 Eurobot 2006 16

University of Padova Advanced experimentations on Robotics for academical education Fine Thanks for your attention Any questions? June, 3 2006 Eurobot 2006