Information fusion for USAR operations based on crowdsourcing

In this paper, we introduce automatic information fusion methods for the urban search and rescue (USAR) operations that efficiently “crowdsource” victim detection tasks. We reduce the load on the operators requiring them to acknowledge only presence of the victim in an image (to annotate the image). The task of finding victim location is performed via automatic fusion of annotated images from the image queue. This multi-robot information fusion is conducted continuously; as robots collectively explore larger areas, the estimated victim coordinates converge to actual victim locations.

[1]  Yang Xu,et al.  Scaling teamwork to very large teams , 2004, Proceedings of the Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 2004. AAMAS 2004..

[2]  Katia P. Sycara,et al.  Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Control for Large Robot Teams , 2011, HCI.

[3]  Stefano Carpin,et al.  Quantitative Assessments of USARSim Accuracy , 2006 .

[4]  Katia Sycara,et al.  Effects of Alarms on Control of Robot Teams , 2011 .

[5]  R. Murphy,et al.  Up from the Rubble: Lessons Learned about HRI from Search and Rescue , 2005 .

[6]  M. Bedworth,et al.  The Omnibus model: a new model of data fusion? , 2000 .

[7]  Katia P. Sycara,et al.  Service level differentiation in multi-robots control , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[8]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Operators for propagating trust and their evaluation in social networks , 2009, AAMAS.

[9]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Trust via evidence combination: A mathematical approach based on certainty , 2006 .

[10]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Formal Trust Model for Multiagent Systems , 2007, IJCAI.

[11]  C. Scrapper,et al.  Robot simulation physics validation , 2007, PerMIS.

[12]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  How search and its subtasks scale in N robots , 2009, 2009 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[13]  James Llinas,et al.  An introduction to multisensor data fusion , 1997, Proc. IEEE.

[14]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Process and Performance in Human-Robot Teams , 2011 .

[15]  Vladimir Zadorozhny,et al.  Collaborative assessment of information provider's reliability and expertise using subjective logic , 2011, 7th International Conference on Collaborative Computing: Networking, Applications and Worksharing (CollaborateCom).

[16]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Choosing Autonomy Modes for Multirobot Search , 2010, Hum. Factors.

[17]  Paul Scerri,et al.  Asynchronous Control with ATR for Large Robot Teams , 2011 .

[18]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Human teams for large scale multirobot control , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[19]  Sebastian Thrun,et al.  Perspectives on standardization in mobile robot programming: the Carnegie Mellon Navigation (CARMEN) Toolkit , 2003, Proceedings 2003 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003) (Cat. No.03CH37453).

[20]  Katia Sycara,et al.  A game theoretic queueing approach to self-reflection in decentralized human-robot interaction systems , 2011 .

[21]  Arnoud Visser,et al.  Towards heterogeneous robot teams for disaster mitigation: Results and performance metrics from RoboCup rescue , 2007, J. Field Robotics.

[22]  Michael Lewis,et al.  Assessing coordination overhead in control of robot teams , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[23]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Towards an understanding of the impact of autonomous path planning on victim search in USAR , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[24]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Scaling effects for streaming video vs. static panorama in multirobot search , 2009, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[25]  Andreas Birk,et al.  High Fidelity Tools for Rescue Robotics: Results and Perspectives , 2005, RoboCup.

[26]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Scaling effects in multi-robot control , 2008, 2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[27]  V. Zadorozhny,et al.  Trust-Aware Query Processing in Data Intensive Sensor Networks , 2007, 2007 International Conference on Sensor Technologies and Applications (SENSORCOMM 2007).

[28]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Teams for Teams Performance in Multi-Human/Multi-Robot Teams , 2010 .

[29]  D. L. Hall,et al.  Mathematical Techniques in Multisensor Data Fusion , 1992 .

[30]  Vladimir J. Lumelsky,et al.  Final report for the DARPA/NSF interdisciplinary study on human-robot interaction , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C (Applications and Reviews).

[31]  Alberto Elfes,et al.  Using occupancy grids for mobile robot perception and navigation , 1989, Computer.

[32]  Adam Jacoff,et al.  A Standard Test Course for Urban Search and Rescue Robots , 2000 .

[33]  Vladimir Zadorozhny,et al.  Information Fusion Based on Collective Intelligence for Multi-robot Search and Rescue Missions , 2013, 2013 IEEE 14th International Conference on Mobile Data Management.

[34]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Potential scaling effects for asynchronous video in multirobot search , 2008, PerMIS.

[35]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Scaling Effects for Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Video in Multi-robot Search , 2008, First International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interaction.

[36]  Marco Fratarcangeli,et al.  A 3D Simulator of Multiple Legged Robots Based on USARSim , 2006, RoboCup.

[37]  Vladimir Zadorozhny,et al.  A Cognitive-based scheme for user reliability and expertise assessment in Q&A social networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse & Integration.

[38]  Audun Jøsang,et al.  A Logic for Uncertain Probabilities , 2001, Int. J. Uncertain. Fuzziness Knowl. Based Syst..

[39]  Hiroaki Kitano,et al.  RoboCup: A Challenge Problem for AI , 1997, AI Mag..

[40]  Michael Lewis,et al.  Human vs. Algorithmic Path Planning for Search and Rescue by Robot Teams , 2010 .

[41]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Video in Multi-robot Search , 2008, First International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interaction.

[42]  Andrew Starr,et al.  A Review of data fusion models and architectures: towards engineering guidelines , 2005, Neural Computing & Applications.

[43]  Kurt Konolige,et al.  Improved Occupancy Grids for Map Building , 1997, Auton. Robots.

[44]  Stefano Carpin,et al.  Bridging the Gap Between Simulation and Reality in Urban Search and Rescue , 2006, RoboCup.

[45]  Shafiq Abedin,et al.  Scalable target detection for large robot teams , 2011, 2011 6th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[46]  Elena Console,et al.  Data Fusion , 2009, Encyclopedia of Database Systems.

[47]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Trust Representation and Aggregation in a Distributed Agent System , 2006, AAAI.

[48]  Michael A. Goodrich,et al.  Validating human-robot interaction schemes in multitasking environments , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans.

[49]  S. Balakirsky,et al.  Design and validation of a Whegs robot in USARSim , 2007 .

[50]  Prasanna Velagapudi,et al.  Teams organization and performance in multi-human/multi-robot teams , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[51]  Erland Jungert,et al.  Querying distributed multimedia databases and data sources for sensor data fusion , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

[52]  G. Swaminathan.  Robot Motion Planning , 2006 .

[53]  Ren C. Luo,et al.  Multisensor integration and fusion in intelligent systems , 1989, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[54]  Robin R. Murphy,et al.  Human-robot interactions during the robot-assisted urban search and rescue response at the World Trade Center , 2003, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part B.

[55]  Stelios C. A. Thomopoulos.  Sensor integration and data fusion , 1990, J. Field Robotics.

[56]  Glen Castore,et al.  A Distributed Sensor Architecture For Advanced Aerospace Systems , 1988, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[57]  Chrysanthos Dellarocas,et al.  Harnessing Crowds: Mapping the Genome of Collective Intelligence , 2009 .