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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 23 August 2022

Siyuan Huang, Limin Liu, Xiongjun Fu, Jian Dong, Fuyu Huang and Ping Lang

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the existing point cloud target detection algorithms based on deep learning, and provide reference for researchers in related fields. In…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the existing point cloud target detection algorithms based on deep learning, and provide reference for researchers in related fields. In recent years, with its outstanding performance in target detection of 2D images, deep learning technology has been applied in light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud data to improve the automation and intelligence level of target detection. However, there are still some difficulties and room for improvement in target detection from the 3D point cloud. In this paper, the vehicle LiDAR target detection method is chosen as the research subject.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, the challenges of applying deep learning to point cloud target detection are described; secondly, solutions in relevant research are combed in response to the above challenges. The currently popular target detection methods are classified, among which some are compared with illustrate advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, approaches to improve the accuracy of network target detection are introduced.

Findings

Finally, this paper also summarizes the shortcomings of existing methods and signals the prospective development trend.

Originality/value

This paper introduces some existing point cloud target detection methods based on deep learning, which can be applied to a driverless, digital map, traffic monitoring and other fields, and provides a reference for researchers in related fields.

Details

Sensor Review, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0260-2288

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2020

Reyes Rios-Cabrera, Ismael Lopez-Juarez, Alejandro Maldonado-Ramirez, Arturo Alvarez-Hernandez and Alan de Jesus Maldonado-Ramirez

This paper aims to present an object detection methodology to categorize 3D object models in an efficient manner. The authors propose a dynamically generated hierarchical…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present an object detection methodology to categorize 3D object models in an efficient manner. The authors propose a dynamically generated hierarchical architecture to compute very fast objects3D pose for mobile service robots to grasp them.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used in this study is based on a dynamic pyramid search and fast template representation, metadata and context-free grammars. In the experiments, the authors use an omnidirectional KUKA mobile manipulator equipped with an RGBD camera, to localize objects requested by humans. The proposed architecture is based on efficient object detection and visual servoing. In the experiments, the robot successfully finds 3D poses. The present proposal is not restricted to specific robots or objects and can grow as much as needed.

Findings

The authors present the dynamic categorization using context-free grammars and 3D object detection, and through several experiments, the authors perform a proof of concept. The authors obtained promising results, showing that their methods can scale to more complex scenes and they can be used in future applications in real-world scenarios where mobile robot are needed in areas such as service robots or industry in general.

Research limitations/implications

The experiments were carried out using a mobile KUKA youBot. Scalability and more robust algorithms will improve the present proposal. In the first stage, the authors carried out an experimental validation.

Practical implications

The current proposal describes a scalable architecture, where more agents can be added or reprogrammed to handle more complicated tasks.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this study resides in the dynamic categorization scheme for fast detection of 3D objects, and the issues and experiments carried out to test the viability of the methods. Usually, state-of-the-art treats categories as rigid and make static queries to datasets. In the present approach, there are no fixed categories and they are created and combined on the fly to speed up detection.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 48 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2011

Ya‐Hui Tsai, Du‐Ming Tsai, Wei‐Chen Li, Wei‐Yao Chiu and Ming‐Chin Lin

The purpose of this paper is to develop a robot vision system for surface defect detection of 3D objects. It aims at the ill‐defined qualitative items such as stains and scratches.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a robot vision system for surface defect detection of 3D objects. It aims at the ill‐defined qualitative items such as stains and scratches.

Design/methodology/approach

A robot vision system for surface defect detection may counter: high surface reflection at some viewing angles; and no reference markers in any sensed images for matching. A filtering process is used to separate the illumination and reflection components of an image. An automatic marker‐selection process and a template‐matching method are then proposed for image registration and anomaly detection in reflection‐free images.

Findings

Tests were performed on a variety of hand‐held electronic devices such as cellular phones. Experimental results show that the proposed system can reliably avoid reflection surfaces and effectively identify small local defects on the surfaces in different viewing angles.

Practical implications

The results have practical implications for industrial objects with arbitrary surfaces.

Originality/value

Traditional visual inspection systems mainly work for two‐dimensional planar surfaces such as printed circuit boards and wafers. The proposed system can find the viewing angles with minimum surface reflection and detect small local defects under image misalignment for three‐dimensional objects.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2013

Chen Guodong, Zeyang Xia, Rongchuan Sun, Zhenhua Wang and Lining Sun

Detecting objects in images and videos is a difficult task that has challenged the field of computer vision. Most of the algorithms for object detection are sensitive to…

Abstract

Purpose

Detecting objects in images and videos is a difficult task that has challenged the field of computer vision. Most of the algorithms for object detection are sensitive to background clutter and occlusion, and cannot localize the edge of the object. An object's shape is typically the most discriminative cue for its recognition by humans. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model‐based object detection method which uses only shape‐fragment features.

Design/methodology/approach

The object shape model is learned from a small set of training images and all object models are composed of shape fragments. The model of the object is in multi‐scales.

Findings

The major contributions of this paper are the application of learned shape fragments‐based model for object detection in complex environment and a novel two‐stage object detection framework.

Originality/value

The results presented in this paper are competitive with other state‐of‐the‐art object detection methods.

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2019

John Oyekan, Axel Fischer, Windo Hutabarat, Christopher Turner and Ashutosh Tiwari

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that computer vision can play within new industrial paradigms such as Industry 4.0 and in particular to support production line…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that computer vision can play within new industrial paradigms such as Industry 4.0 and in particular to support production line improvements to achieve flexible manufacturing. As Industry 4.0 requires “big data”, it is accepted that computer vision could be one of the tools for its capture and efficient analysis. RGB-D data gathered from real-time machine vision systems such as Kinect ® can be processed using computer vision techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

This research exploits RGB-D cameras such as Kinect® to investigate the feasibility of using computer vision techniques to track the progress of a manual assembly task on a production line. Several techniques to track the progress of a manual assembly task are presented. The use of CAD model files to track the manufacturing tasks is also outlined.

Findings

This research has found that RGB-D cameras can be suitable for object recognition within an industrial environment if a number of constraints are considered or different devices/techniques combined. Furthermore, through the use of a HMM inspired state-based workflow, the algorithm presented in this paper is computationally tractable.

Originality/value

Processing of data from robust and cheap real-time machine vision systems could bring increased understanding of production line features. In addition, new techniques that enable the progress tracking of manual assembly sequences may be defined through the further analysis of such visual data. The approaches explored within this paper make a contribution to the utilisation of visual information “big data” sets for more efficient and automated production.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 40 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 April 2020

Yongxiang Wu, Yili Fu and Shuguo Wang

This paper aims to design a deep neural network for object instance segmentation and six-dimensional (6D) pose estimation in cluttered scenes and apply the proposed method in…

448

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to design a deep neural network for object instance segmentation and six-dimensional (6D) pose estimation in cluttered scenes and apply the proposed method in real-world robotic autonomous grasping of household objects.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel deep learning method is proposed for instance segmentation and 6D pose estimation in cluttered scenes. An iterative pose refinement network is integrated with the main network to obtain more robust final pose estimation results for robotic applications. To train the network, a technique is presented to generate abundant annotated synthetic data consisting of RGB-D images and object masks in a fast manner without any hand-labeling. For robotic grasping, the offline grasp planning based on eigengrasp planner is performed and combined with the online object pose estimation.

Findings

The experiments on the standard pose benchmarking data sets showed that the method achieves better pose estimation and time efficiency performance than state-of-art methods with depth-based ICP refinement. The proposed method is also evaluated on a seven DOFs Kinova Jaco robot with an Intel Realsense RGB-D camera, the grasping results illustrated that the method is accurate and robust enough for real-world robotic applications.

Originality/value

A novel 6D pose estimation network based on the instance segmentation framework is proposed and a neural work-based iterative pose refinement module is integrated into the method. The proposed method exhibits satisfactory pose estimation and time efficiency for the robotic grasping.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 47 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2022

Huaidong Zhou, Pengbo Feng and Wusheng Chou

Wheeled mobile robots (WMR) are the most widely used robots. Avoiding obstacles in unstructured environments, especially dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians, is a serious…

Abstract

Purpose

Wheeled mobile robots (WMR) are the most widely used robots. Avoiding obstacles in unstructured environments, especially dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians, is a serious challenge for WMR. This paper aims to present a hybrid obstacle avoidance method that combines an informed-rapidly exploring random tree* algorithm with a three-dimensional (3D)-object detection approach and model prediction controller (MPC) to conduct obstacle perception, collision-free path planning and obstacle avoidance for WMR in unstructured environments.

Design/methodology/approach

Given a reference orientation and speed, the hybrid method uses parametric ellipses to represent obstacle expansion boundaries based on the 3D target detection results, and a collision-free reference path is planned. Then, the authors build on a model predictive control for tracking the collision-free reference path by incorporating the distance between the robot and obstacles. The proposed framework is a mapless method for WMR.

Findings

The authors present experimental results with a mobile robot for obstacle avoidance in indoor environments crowded with obstacles, such as chairs and pedestrians. The results show that the proposed hybrid obstacle avoidance method can satisfy the application requirements of mobile robots in unstructured environments.

Originality/value

In this study, the parameter ellipse is used to represent the area occupied by the obstacle, which takes the velocity as the parameter. Therefore, the motion direction and position of dynamic obstacles can be considered in the planning stage, which enhances the success rate of obstacle avoidance. In addition, the distance between the obstacle and robot is increased in the MPC optimization function to ensure a safe distance between the robot and the obstacle.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 June 2021

Emre Kiyak and Gulay Unal

The paper aims to address the tracking algorithm based on deep learning and four deep learning tracking models developed. They compared with each other to prevent collision and to…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to address the tracking algorithm based on deep learning and four deep learning tracking models developed. They compared with each other to prevent collision and to obtain target tracking in autonomous aircraft.

Design/methodology/approach

First, to follow the visual target, the detection methods were used and then the tracking methods were examined. Here, four models (deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN), deep convolutional neural networks with fine-tuning (DCNNFN), transfer learning with deep convolutional neural network (TLDCNN) and fine-tuning deep convolutional neural network with transfer learning (FNDCNNTL)) were developed.

Findings

The training time of DCNN took 9 min 33 s, while the accuracy percentage was calculated as 84%. In DCNNFN, the training time of the network was calculated as 4 min 26 s and the accuracy percentage was 91%. The training of TLDCNN) took 34 min and 49 s and the accuracy percentage was calculated as 95%. With FNDCNNTL, the training time of the network was calculated as 34 min 33 s and the accuracy percentage was nearly 100%.

Originality/value

Compared to the results in the literature ranging from 89.4% to 95.6%, using FNDCNNTL, better results were found in the paper.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 93 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2016

Jianhua Su, Zhi-Yong Liu, Hong Qiao and Chuankai Liu

Picking up pistons in arbitrary poses is an important step on car engine assembly line. The authors usually use vision system to estimate the pose of the pistons and then guide a…

Abstract

Purpose

Picking up pistons in arbitrary poses is an important step on car engine assembly line. The authors usually use vision system to estimate the pose of the pistons and then guide a stable grasp. However, a piston in some poses, e.g. the mouth of the piston faces forward, is hardly to be directly grasped by the gripper. Thus, we need to reorient the piston to achieve a desired pose, i.e. let its mouth face upward, for grasping.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper aims to present a vision-based picking system that can grasp pistons in arbitrary poses. The whole picking process is divided into two stages. At localization stage, a hierarchical approach is proposed to estimate the piston’s pose from image which usually involves both heavy noise and edge distortions. At grasping stage, multi-step robotic manipulations are designed to enable the piston to follow a nominal trajectory to reach to the minimum of the distance between the piston’s center and the support plane. That is, under the design input, the piston would be pushed to achieve a desired orientation.

Findings

A target piston in arbitrary poses would be picked from the conveyor belt by the gripper with the proposed method.

Practical implications

The designed robotic bin-picking system using vision is an advantage in terms of flexibility in automobile manufacturing industry.

Originality/value

The authors develop a methodology that uses a pneumatic gripper and 2D vision information for picking up multiple pistons in arbitrary poses. The rough pose of the parts are detected based on a hierarchical approach for detection of multiple ellipses in the environment that usually involve edge distortions. The pose uncertainties of the piston are eliminated by multi-step robotic manipulations.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2023

Ziqi Chai, Chao Liu and Zhenhua Xiong

Template matching is one of the most suitable choices for full six degrees of freedom pose estimation in many practical industrial applications. However, the increasing number of…

133

Abstract

Purpose

Template matching is one of the most suitable choices for full six degrees of freedom pose estimation in many practical industrial applications. However, the increasing number of templates while dealing with a wide range of viewpoint changes results in a long runtime, which may not meet the real-time requirements. This paper aims to improve matching efficiency while maintaining sample resolution and matching accuracy.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-pyramid-based hierarchical template matching strategy is proposed. Three pyramids are established at the sphere subdivision, radius and in-plane rotation levels during the offline template render stage. Then, a hierarchical template matching is performed from the highest to the lowest level in each pyramid, narrowing the global search space and expanding the local search space. The initial search parameters at the top level can be determined by the preprocessing of the YOLOv3 object detection network to further improve real-time performance.

Findings

Experimental results show that this matching strategy takes only 100 ms under 100k templates without loss of accuracy, promising for real industrial applications. The authors further validated the approach by applying it to a real robot grasping task.

Originality/value

The matching framework in this paper improves the template matching efficiency by two orders of magnitude and is validated using a common template definition and viewpoint sampling methods. In addition, it can be easily adapted to other template definitions and viewpoint sampling methods.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

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