Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems: 12th Annual Conference, TAROS 2011, Sheffield, UK, August 31 -- September 2, 2011, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6856)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference Towards Autonomous Robotics Systems, TAROS 2011, held in Sheffield, UK, in August/September 2011. The 32 revised full papers presented together with 29 two-page abstracts were carefully reviewed and selected from 94 submissions. Among the topics addressed are robot navigation, robot learning, human-robot interaction, robot control, mobile robots, reinforcement learning, robot vehicles, swarm robotic systems, etc. Front Matter....Pages - A Cricket-Controlled Robot Orienting towards a Sound Source....Pages 1-12 A General Classifier of Whisker Data Using Stationary Naive Bayes: Application to BIOTACT Robots....Pages 13-23 A Navigation System for a High-Speed Professional Cleaning Robot....Pages 24-35 A Recursive Least Squares Solution for Recovering Robust Planar Homographies....Pages 36-45 Airborne Ultrasonic Position and Velocity Measurement Using Two Cycles of Linear-Period-Modulated Signal....Pages 46-53 An Eye Detection and Localization System for Natural Human and Robot Interaction without Face Detection....Pages 54-65 An Implementation of a Biologically Inspired Model of Head Direction Cells on a Robot....Pages 66-77 Contextual Recognition of Robot Emotions....Pages 78-89 Costs and Benefits of Behavioral Specialization....Pages 90-101 CrunchBot: A Mobile Whiskered Robot Platform....Pages 102-113 Deformation-Based Tactile Feedback Using a Biologically-Inspired Sensor and a Modified Display....Pages 114-124 Design and Control of an Upper Limb Exoskeleton Robot RehabRoby....Pages 125-136 Distributed Motion Planning for Ground Objects Using a Network of Robotic Ceiling Cameras....Pages 137-148 Evaluating the Effect of Robot Group Size on Relative Localisation Precision....Pages 149-160 Instance-Based Reinforcement Learning Technique with a Meta-learning Mechanism for Robust Multi-Robot Systems....Pages 161-172 Locomotion Selection and Mechanical Design for a Mobile Intra-abdominal Adhesion-Reliant Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgery....Pages 173-182 Mapping with Sparse Local Sensors and Strong Hierarchical Priors....Pages 183-194 Multi-rate Visual Servoing Based on Dual-Rate High Order Holds....Pages 195-206 Optimal Path Planning for Nonholonomic Robotic Systems via Parametric Optimisation....Pages 207-218 Probabilistic Logic Reasoning about Traffic Scenes....Pages 219-230 Real-World Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Humanoid Robot Charging in a Home Environment....Pages 231-240 Robot Routing Approaches for Convoy Merging Maneuvers....Pages 241-252 Sensing with Artificial Tactile Sensors: An Investigation of Spatio-temporal Inference....Pages 253-264 Short-Range Radar Perception in Outdoor Environments....Pages 265-276 Smooth Kinematic Controller vs. Pure-Pursuit for Non-holonomic Vehicles....Pages 277-288 Supervised Traversability Learning for Robot Navigation....Pages 289-298 Task Space Integral Sliding Mode Controller Implementation for 4DOF of a Humanoid BERT II Arm with Posture Control....Pages 299-310 Towards Autonomous Energy-Wise RObjects....Pages 311-322 Towards Safe Human-Robot Interaction....Pages 323-335 Towards Temporal Verification of Emergent Behaviours in Swarm Robotic Systems....Pages 336-347 Walking Rover Trafficability - Presenting a Comprehensive Analysis and Prediction Tool....Pages 348-359 What Can a Personal Robot Do for You?....Pages 360-371 A Systems Integration Approach to Creating Embodied Biomimetic Models of Active Vision....Pages 372-373 A Validation of Localisation Accuracy Improvements by the Combined Use of GPS and GLONASS....Pages 374-375 Adaptive Particle Filter for Fault Detection and Isolation of Mobile Robots....Pages 376-377 An Approach to Improving Attitude Estimation Based on Low-Cost MEMS-IMU for Mobile Robot Navigation....Pages 378-379 Cooperative Multi-robot Box Pushing Inspired by Human Behaviour....Pages 380-381 Cooperative Navigation and Integration of a Human into Multi-robot System....Pages 382-383 Coordination in Multi-tiered Robotic Search....Pages 384-385 Covert Robotics: Improving Covertness with Escapability and Non-Line-of-Sight Sensing....Pages 386-387 Designing Electric Propulsion Systems for UAVs....Pages 388-389 Enhancing Self-similar Patterns by Asymmetric Artificial Potential Functions in Partially Connected Swarms....Pages 390-391 Evolving Modularity in Robot Behaviour Using Gene Expression Programming....Pages 392-393 Forming Nested 3D Structures Based on the Brazil Nut Effect....Pages 394-395 Grasping of Deformable Objects Applied to Organic Produce....Pages 396-397 Learning to Grasp Information with Your Own Hands....Pages 398-399 Long-Term Experiment Using an Adaptive Appearance-Based Map for Visual Navigation by Mobile Robots....Pages 400-401 Occupancy Grid-Based SLAM Using a Mobile Robot with a Ring of Eight Sonar Transducers....Pages 402-403 On the Analysis of Parameter Convergence for Temporal Difference Learning of an Exemplar Balance Problem....Pages 404-405 Online Hazard Analysis for Autonomous Robots....Pages 406-407 Results of the European Land Robot Trial and Their Usability for Benchmarking Outdoor Robot Systems....Pages 408-409 Solutions for a Variable Compliance Gripper Design....Pages 410-411 Study of Routing Algorithms Considering Real Time Restrictions Using a Connectivity Function....Pages 412-413 Systematic Design of Flexible Magnetic Wall and Ceiling Climbing Robot for Cargo Screening....Pages 414-415 Tactile Afferent Simulation from Pressure Arrays....Pages 416-417 The Interaction between Vortices and a Biomimetic Flexible Fin....Pages 418-419 Toward an Ecological Approach to Interface Design for Teaching Robots....Pages 420-421 Towards Adaptive Robotic Green Plants....Pages 422-423 Using Image Depth Information for Fast Face Detection....Pages 424-425 Using Sequences of Knots as a Random Search....Pages 426-427 Vision-Based Segregation Behaviours in a Swarm of Autonomous Robots....Pages 428-429 Visual-Inertial Motion Priors for Robust Monocular SLAM....Pages 430-431 Back Matter....Pages -