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Motion planning for off‐road autonomous driving based on human‐like cognition and weight adaptation J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-23 Yuchun Wang, Cheng Gong, Jianwei Gong, Peng Jia
Driving in an off‐road environment is challenging for autonomous vehicles due to the complex and varied terrain. To ensure stable and efficient travel, the vehicle requires consideration and balancing of environmental factors, such as undulations, roughness, and obstacles, to generate optimal trajectories that can adapt to changing scenarios. However, traditional motion planners often utilize a fixed
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Autonomous underwater vehicle link alignment control in unknown environments using reinforcement learning J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-23 Yang Weng, Sehwa Chun, Masaki Ohashi, Takumi Matsuda, Yuki Sekimori, Joni Pajarinen, Jan Peters, Toshihiro Maki
High‐speed underwater wireless optical communication holds immense promise in ocean monitoring and surveys, providing crucial support for the real‐time sharing of observational data collected by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). However, due to inaccurate target information and external interference in unknown environments, link alignment is challenging and needs to be addressed. In response to
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Puttybot: A sensorized robot for autonomous putty plastering J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-23 Zhao Liu, Dayuan Chen, Mahmoud A. Eldosoky, Zefeng Ye, Xin Jiang, Yunhui Liu, Shuzhi Sam Ge
Plastering is dominated manually, exhibiting low levels of automation and inconsistent finished quality. A comprehensive review of literature indicates that extant plastering robots demonstrate a subpar performance when tasked with rectifying defects in the transition area. The limitations encompass a lack of capacity to independently evaluate the quality of work or perform remedial plastering procedures
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Motion planning and contact force distribution for heavy‐duty hexapod robots walking on unknown rugged terrains J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-23 Liang Ding, Xiao Gong, Lei Hu, Guanyu Wang, Zhongxi Shao, Huaiguang Yang, Haibo Gao, Zongquan Deng
Heavy‐duty hexapod robots have impressive stability, high load‐bearing capacity, and exceptional adaptability to rugged terrains. They are capable of working in challenging outdoor environments such as planetary exploration, disaster relief and mountain transportation. Their ability to traverse terrain requires effective motion planning and accurate force distribution, neither of which is currently
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PAW: Prediction of wildlife animals using a robot under adverse weather conditions J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-19 Parminder Kaur, Sachin Kansal, V. P. Singh
Image dehazing and object detection are two different research areas that play a vital role in machine learning. When merged together and implemented in real‐time, it is a boon in the field of artificial intelligence, specifically robotics. Object detection and tracking are two of the major implementations in almost the entire robot's training and learning. The learning of the robot depends on the
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Comparative study of soil interaction and driving characteristics of different agricultural and space robots in an agricultural environment J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-19 Malte Wirkus, Stefan Hinck, Christian Backe, Jonathan Babel, Vadim Riedel, Nele Reichert, Andrej Kolesnikov, Tobias Stark, Jens Hilljegerdes, Hilmi Doğu Küçüker, Arno Ruckelshausen, Frank Kirchner
This paper investigates four different mobile robots with respect to their driving characteristics and soil preservation properties in an agricultural environment. Thereby, robots of classical design from agriculture as well as systems from space robotics with advanced locomotion concepts are considered to determine the individual advantages of each rover concept with respect to the application domain
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Water entry locomotion strategy for a stranding bionic robotic fish J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Huijie Dong, Zhipeng Ji, Yan Meng, Di Chen, Tiezhu Qiao, Junzhi Yu
Similar to other underwater robots, bionic robotic fish face entrapment risks when stranded due to wave action or water level drop. In this paper, we propose a locomotion strategy for a whale shark‐inspired robotic fish, enabling it to autonomously return to aquatic environments after being stranded on land. This strategy is informed by the terrestrial locomotion capabilities of mudskippers and is
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Data‐driven iterative learning cooperative trajectory tracking control for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles with input saturation constraints J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-16 Chengxi Wu, Hamid Reza Karimi, Liang Shan, Yuewei Dai
This paper investigates the cooperative trajectory tracking (CTT) control problem of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The multi‐AUV system is characterized by uncertain dynamics, being subjected to the impact about input saturation constraints and unmeasurable disturbances. First, a neural network‐based data‐driven control algorithm is proposed for the multi‐AUV system with unmeasurable
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The ReSWARM microgravity flight experiments: Planning, control, and model estimation for on‐orbit close proximity operations J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-16 Bryce Doerr, Keenan Albee, Monica Ekal, Rodrigo Ventura, Richard Linares
On‐orbit close proximity operations involve robotic spacecraft maneuvering and making decisions for a growing number of mission scenarios demanding autonomy, including on‐orbit assembly, repair, and astronaut assistance. Of these scenarios, on‐orbit assembly is an enabling technology that will allow large space structures to be built in situ, using smaller building block modules. However, like many
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LTA‐OM: Long‐term association LiDAR–IMU odometry and mapping J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-15 Zuhao Zou, Chongjian Yuan, Wei Xu, Haotian Li, Shunbo Zhou, Kaiwen Xue, Fu Zhang
This paper focuses on the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)–Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem: How to fuse the sensor measurement from the LiDAR and IMU to online estimate robot's poses and build a consistent map of the environment. This paper presents LTA‐OM: an efficient, robust, and accurate LiDAR SLAM system. Employing fast direct LiDAR‐inertial
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Acoustic tracking of moving marine targets using a single autonomous surface receiver J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Ilan Git, Matan Samina, Shachar Givon, Ronen Segev, Moshe Kiflawi, Ohad Ben‐Shahar
While marine animal behavior is often studied in constrained lab setups, a more reliable exploration should be done in their natural environment and without human interference. This task becomes excessively more challenging when quantitative data are needed in large and unconstrained aquatic environments. Toward that end, researchers widely use acoustic positioning telemetry to remotely track their
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Multimodal immersive digital twin platform for cyber–physical robot fleets in nuclear environments J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Paul Dominick E. Baniqued, Paul Bremner, Melissa Sandison, Samuel Harper, Subham Agrawal, Joseph Bolarinwa, Jamie Blanche, Zhengyi Jiang, Thomas Johnson, Daniel Mitchell, Erwin Jose Lopez Pulgarin, Andrew West, Melissa Willis, Kanzhong Yao, David Flynn, Manuel Giuliani, Keir Groves, Barry Lennox, Simon Watson
The nuclear energy sector can benefit from mobile robots for remote inspection and handling, reducing human exposure to radiation. Advances in cyber–physical systems have improved robotic platforms in this sector through digital twin (DT) technology. DTs enhance situational awareness for robot operators, crucial for safety in the nuclear energy sector, and their value is anticipated to increase with
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Decentralized deconfliction of aerial robots in high intensity traffic structures J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Verdon Crann, Peyman Amiri, Samuel Knox, William Crowther
Projections for future air mobility envisage intensely utilized airspace that does not simply scale up from existing systems with centralized air traffic control. This paper considers the implementation and test of a software and hardware framework for decentralized control of aerial vehicles within intensely used airspace. Up to 10 rotary wing vehicles of maximum all up mass of are flown in an outdoor
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A multi‐UAV system for coverage path planning applications with in‐flight re‐planning capabilities J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Marco Andrés Luna, Martin Molina, Rodrigo Da‐Silva‐Gomez, Javier Melero‐Deza, Pedro Arias‐Perez, Pascual Campoy
This paper presents the development and implementation of a multiple unmanned aerial vehicle system focused on coverage path planning on multiple separated areas capable of re‐planning the collective mission in case of unexpected events. For this purpose, we present a distributed‐centralized architecture that uses heuristic and computationally efficient methods to perform the planning/re‐planning and
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Three‐dimensionalized feature‐based LiDAR‐visual odometry for online mapping of unpaved road surfaces J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-09 Junwoon Lee, Masamitsu Kurisu, Kazuya Kuriyama
Automated maintenance and motion planning for unpaved roads are research areas of great interest in the field robotics. Constructing such systems necessitates the development of surface maps for unpaved roads. However, the lack of distinctive features on unpaved roads degrades the performance of light detection and ranging (LiDAR)‐based mapping. To address this problem, this paper proposes three‐dimensionalized
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Leaf‐density estimation for fruit‐tree canopy based on wind‐excited audio J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-09 Wenwei Li, Shijie Jiang, Shenghui Yang, Han Feng, Weihong Liu, Yongjun Zheng, Yu Tan, Daobilige Su
It is important to obtain real‐time leaf density of fruit‐tree canopies for the precision spray control of plant‐protection robots. However, conventional detection techniques for the characteristics of fruit‐tree canopies cannot acquire the canopy internal information, which may provide an unsatisfactory accuracy of detection of leaf densities. This paper proposes a method for estimating canopy leaf
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Position‐based fluid simulation for robotic injection sealing of pavement cracks J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-09 Samuel D. Schaefer, Jie Xu, Damian Palin, Abir Al‐Tabbaa, Fumiya Iida
Automated crack sealing could significantly benefit the maintenance of road pavements, but there is difficulty in depositing the correct volume of sealant material into the hidden crack space. A simulated model of the material flow within a crack space would allow the development of a predictive control scheme, such that the repair robot can apply suitable trajectories and operational parameters to
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UAV‐based simultaneous localization and mapping in outdoor environments: A systematic scoping review J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-09 Kaiwen Wang, Lammmert Kooistra, Ruoxi Pan, Wensheng Wang, João Valente
This study aims to investigate the current knowledge of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)‐based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in outdoor environments and to discuss challenges and limitations in this field. A literature search was conducted in three online databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and IEEE) for articles published before October 2022 related to UAV‐based SLAM. A scoping review was
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Generalizing minimum safe operating altitudes for fixed‐wing UAVs in real‐time J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Ashford Milne, Alex McConville, Thomas Richardson, Matt Watson, Ben Schellenberg
This paper discusses a method of determining the minimum safe altitude of an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) at any point within a designated airspace by conducting a glide reachability analysis. Recently, fixed‐wing UAVs are more regularly deployed near population centers and in extreme environments, requiring increasingly robust emergency systems and planning. The long‐ranges and adverse terrain associated
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Cover Image, Volume 41, Number 3, May 2024 J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Zhihao Wang, Haoyao Chen, Mengmeng Fu
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Implementation of PID controller and enhanced red deer algorithm in optimal path planning of substation inspection robots J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Zhuozhen Tang, Bin Xue, Hongzhong Ma, Ahmad Rad
In contemporary power transmission systems, substation monitoring stands as a vital but challenging task. While robotics offers promise in this regard, its potential is still nascent, struggling to replicate human intelligence. This article's core aim was to optimize robot path planning (RPP). Employing the enhanced red deer algorithm (ERDA), we sought to bolster RPP for more efficient substation inspections
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Sharing three‐dimensional occupancy grid maps to support multi‐UAVs cooperative navigation systems J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-04 Maik Basso, Antonio S. da Silva, Diego Alvim Stocchero, Edison P. de Freitas
Due to recent advances in mobile robotics, applications involving multiple robots have become the focus of research in this area. Communication and data exchange among robots are essential features of these systems. In this context, this work presents the conception and the implementation of an application used to share local three‐dimensional occupancy grid maps in a network composed of multiple unmanned
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Towards practical robotic chef: Review of relevant work and future challenges J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Grzegorz Sochacki, Xiaoping Zhang, Arsen Abdulali, Fumiya Iida
Robotic chefs are a promising technology that can improve the availability of quality food by reducing the time required for cooking, therefore decreasing food's overall cost. This paper clarifies and structures design and benchmarking rules in this new area of research, and provides a comprehensive review of technologies suitable for the construction of cooking robots. The diner is an ultimate judge
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Biomechanical analysis of real-time vibration exposure during mini combine harvester operation: A hybrid ANN–GA approach J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Gajendra Singh, V. K. Tewari, Ambuj, Vinod Choudhary
This research focuses on designing and evaluating ergonomic self-propelled machinery seats to reduce whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure among male and female agricultural workers. Subjects without musculoskeletal disorders were selected, and their anthropometric parameters were analyzed. An ergonomically refined seat, considering anthropometric dimensions and vibration reduction, was developed and
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Review on research and development of planetary penetrator J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Jianqin Zhou, Jingkai Feng, Jinguo Liu, Cheng Xu, Yuanzheng Tian, Da Lu
A planetary penetrator is a kind of machine that can use its special structure to independently penetrate an exoplanet and sample it for storage. It is a hot research topic in the world and has important development potential in the field of deep space exploration. Based on the analysis of relevant literature, this paper classifies and compares various representative planetary penetrator projectiles
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A compact RTK‐GNSS device for high‐precision localization of outdoor mobile robots J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Sung‐Jin Lee, Bit Kim, Dong‐Wook Yang, Junseo Kim, Tom Parkinson, Johsan Billingham, Chulwoo Park, Jinsung Yoon, Dae‐Young Lee
Accurate location information is crucial for ensuring the reliability of service robots, such as field vehicles and agricultural robots. These practical robots often encounter fluctuating or inclined terrains in dynamic conditions during operation. Additionally, the performance of mobile robots depends on the physical size and weight of the localization system–physically heavy systems may degrade performance
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Design, integration, and field evaluation of a robotic blossom thinning system for tree fruit crops J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Uddhav Bhattarai, Qin Zhang, Manoj Karkee
The United States (US) apple industry relies heavily on semi‐skilled manual labor force for essential field operations such as training, pruning, blossom and green fruitlet thinning, and harvesting. Blossom thinning is one of the crucial crop‐load management practices to achieve desired crop load, fruit quality, and return bloom. While several techniques such as chemical and mechanical thinning are
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Design and analysis of a bionic‐inspired single‐rotor MAV with a foldable wing J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Wenju Liu, Haibo Qu, Xiaolei Wang, Junyu Bao, Guangrong Chen, Sheng Guo
Microaerial vehicles (MAVs) have achieved rapid advancement and vast applications. Energy efficiency and friction loss are common problems of MAVs, and exploring novel structural design and enhancing flight performance are critical research directions. Here, a bionic‐inspired single‐rotor MAV with a foldable wing is fabricated by imitating winged achene in nature. The structural design of the wing
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Design and development of multirobot system for remote repair of nuclear pipe equipment J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Haichao Li, Yixuan Ma, Yunlong Pan, Yong Xu, Fusheng Zhao
The extreme radiation environment in nuclear power plant leads to leakage of nuclear pipe equipment. It is important to repair the pipe equipment timely for nuclear safety. Manual repair on field incurs a health risk to worker. The use of robot for remote repair shows an excellent prospect. Therefore, the multirobot system (MRS) was developed and designed for field remote repair of nuclear reprocessing
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Automated mission planning for aerial large‐scale power plant thermal inspection J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Alexey M. Romanov, Ntmitrii Gyrichidi, Maria A. Volkova, Stanislav A. Eroshenko, Pavel V. Matrenin, Alexandra I. Khalyasmaa
Close‐range aerial inspection of large‐scale industrial facilities such as power plants is complex. It is characterized by a few areas suitable for safe landing, many obstacles, complicated radio communication, and so forth. The paper presented a new offline approach for automated mission planning in such conditions. It is based on novel concepts of ‐shaped flight profile and safe altitude map. These
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Design and multimodal locomotion plan of a hexapod robot with improved knee joints J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-27 Kun Xu, Ripeng Qin, Cheng Chen, Guiyu Dong, Jiawei Chen, Xilun Ding
Hexapod robots represent complex and highly redundant robotic systems capable of handling various tasks in extreme environments, such as planetary exploration and disaster response. To enhance the terrain adaptability and maneuverability of hexapod robots, we present a novel multimodal hexapod robot in this research. Our multimodal hexapod robot design incorporates knee joints with an improved multiparallel
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Developing an expansion‐based obstacle detection using panoptic segmentation J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-26 Saied Pirasteh, Masood Varshosaz, Samira Badrloo, Jonathan Li
Safe Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) navigation requires detecting and avoiding obstacles. For safe MAV navigation, expansion‐based algorithms are effective for detecting obstacles. However, accurate and real‐time obstacle detection is a fundamental challenge. Some traditional methods focus on extracting geometric features from images and applying geometric constraints to identify potential obstacles. Others
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Design and performance analysis of soft pneumatic manipulator‐based linear cutter and stem holder for sweet pepper harvesting J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-26 Zinat Tasneem, Koichi Oka
Efficient automation of stem‐cutting processes in agricultural practices is crucial but little‐studied for improving productivity and reducing labor‐intensive tasks. To address this need, we present a customized stem cutter and stem holder designed explicitly for sweet pepper harvesting. The stem cutter comprises a fixed plate and a moving plate with a blade, which moves in a single plane at an upward
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An RGB‐D object detection model with high‐generalization ability applied to tea harvesting robot for outdoor cross‐variety tea shoots detection J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-22 Yanxu Wu, Jianneng Chen, Leiying He, Jiangsheng Gui, Jiangming Jia
Detecting tea shoots is the first and most crucial step in achieving intelligent tea harvesting. However, when faced with thousands of tea varieties, establishing a high‐quality and comprehensive database comes with significant costs. Therefore, it has become an urgent challenge to improve the model's generalization ability and train it with minimal samples to develop a model capable of achieving optimal
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Multiagent robotic systems and exploration algorithms: Applications for data collection in construction sites J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-22 Samuel A. Prieto, Nikolaos Giakoumidis, Borja García de Soto
The construction industry has been notoriously slow to adopt new technology and embrace automation. This has resulted in lower efficiency and productivity compared to other industries where automation has been widely adopted. However, recent advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence offer a potential solution to this problem. In this study, a methodology is proposed to integrate multirobotic
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WheTLHLoc 4W: Small‐scale inspection ground mobile robot with two tracks, two rotating legs, and four wheels J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-18 Luca Bruzzone, Shahab Edin Nodehi, Pietro Fanghella
WheTLHLoc 4W is the second version of a hybrid leg–wheel–track small‐scale ground mobile robot, developed for surveillance and inspection applications. It differs from its predecessor, WheTLHLoc 2W, in two main aspects: the number of wheels (four instead of two), and the new leg design. The overall size of the robot varies depending on the configuration: 500 × 420 × 140 mm (length × width × height)
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Autonomous navigation and adaptive path planning in dynamic greenhouse environments utilizing improved LeGO‐LOAM and OpenPlanner algorithms J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Xingbo Yao, Yuhao Bai, Baohua Zhang, Dahua Xu, Guangzheng Cao, Yifan Bian
The autonomous navigation of greenhouse robots depends on precise mapping, accurate localization information and a robust path planning strategy. However, the complex agricultural environment introduces significant challenges to robot perception and path planning. In this study, a hardware system designed exclusively for greenhouse agricultural environments is presented, employing multi‐sensor fusion
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Robotics‐driven gait analysis: Assessing Azure Kinect's performance in in‐lab versus in‐corridor environments J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Diego Guffanti, Alberto Brunete, Miguel Hernando, David Álvarez, Ernesto Gambao, William Chamorro, Diego Fernández‐Vázquez, Víctor Navarro‐López, María Carratalá‐Tejada, Juan Carlos Miangolarra‐Page
Gait analysis offers vital insights into human movement, aiding in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of various conditions. Analyzing gait in corridors, rather than in lab, provides unique advantages for a more comprehensive understanding of human locomotion. However, limited dedicated technologies constrain gait data analysis in this context. In this study, a markerless gait analysis system
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LiDAR‐based automated UAV inspection of wind turbine rotor blades J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Carlos Castelar Wembers, Jasper Pflughaupt, Ludmila Moshagen, Michael Kurenkov, Tim Lewejohann, Georg Schildbach
The global trend indicates that overall wind energy production, both onshore and offshore, will increase drastically in the next decade. Therefore, presently, much effort is focused on optimizing the operation and maintenance of wind turbines, since these are quite challenging and cost‐intensive. To aid or even completely fulfill a specific inspection task, an automated solution is proposed in this
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ADRC‐SMC‐based disturbance rejection depth‐tracking control of underactuated AUV J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-06 Chuan Liu, Xianbo Xiang, Yu Duan, Lichun Yang, Shaolong Yang
The underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) depth‐tracking approach is presented in this research along with comparative field experiments. First, a model‐free ADRC‐SMC pitch autopilot method is proposed to eliminate dynamics‐related disturbances. The active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) framework is adopted to compensate the complicated and unknown pitch dynamics into an approximate
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Two novel approaches for solving the contradiction between efficient penetration and low recoil for the low‐velocity penetrator J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Cheng Xu, Jingkai Feng, Jinguo Liu, Yuanzheng Tian, Da Lu
The low‐velocity penetrator (LVP) is a planetary penetration device that can drive itself to a target depth through its internal periodic impacts. When LVP generates impact energy, it inevitably produces a recoil that can only be counteracted by friction with the soil, if there is no other auxiliary device. Unfortunately, LVP is extraordinarily sensitive to the recoil during the initial stage since
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The Haidou‐1 hybrid underwater vehicle for the Mariana Trench science exploration to 10,908 m depth J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Jian Wang, Yuangui Tang, Shuo Li, Yang Lu, Jixu Li, Tiejun Liu, Zhibin Jiang, Cong Chen, Yu Cheng, Deyong Yu, Xingya Yan, Shuxue Yan
An unmanned Autonomous and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ARV), Haidou‐1, visited the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, and performed observation, sampling and bathymetric mapping explorations at the trench bottom. The Haidou‐1 vehicle reached a depth of 10,908 m in the west pool of the Challenger Deep and probed a depth of 10,909 m in the east pool. The 2600 kg underwater robotic vehicle could conduct
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RoboBoat: A robotic boat for 3D mapping of partially flooded underground sites J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 José Luis Villarroel, Francisco Lera, Danilo Tardioli, Luis Riazuelo, Luis Montano
This paper presents the development and field testing of RoboBoat, an unmanned surface vehicle designed to acquire three‐dimensional (3D) point cloud representations of narrow flooded galleries in caves, mines, and other similar environments where conventional surveying and mapping procedures cannot be applied. We developed techniques tailored to these scenarios, including a contour‐following reactive
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Gyroscopic precession control for maneuvering two-wheeled robot recoil stabilization J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Gökhan Çetin, Faruk Ünker
A two-wheeled robot has high maneuverability and can spin around with a high velocity but is prone to roll over under a recoil force. Because the wheels are only used to control the maneuver speed of the robot. However, a two-wheeled robot using a gyroscope does not need the control of the wheels and can maintain the stability of the robot under a recoil force during maneuvers even if the gimbal of
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Impact of modified Harris hawks optimization on hybrid deep learning for untrained plant leaf classification J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-19 Bhanuprakash Dudi, V. Rajesh
Plants are extensively dispersed in nature, and they are essential for the survival and growth of the entire living creatures on the planet. Leaf classification and identification are critical in botany for recognizing new or endangered tree species. Leaf classification must be done quickly and accurately to sustain agricultural products. Traditional methods used manual classification of plant species
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Unmanned air/ground vehicle survey following a radiological dispersal event J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Timothy Munsie, Blake Beckman, Ross Fawkes, Alan B. Shippen, Blaine Fairbrother, Anna Rae Green
This paper presents the method and results of surveying a dispersed radioactive field using an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). A 35 GBq of 140${}^{140}$La material was distributed in a specific geometric l-polygon pattern measuring a 120 m ×$\times $ 20 m longitudinal rectangle and an 80 m ×$\times $ 10 m transverse rectangle. Two methods were used to determine the
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Nautilus: An autonomous surface vehicle with a multilayer software architecture for offshore inspection J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Daniel F. Campos, Eduardo P. Gonçalves, Hugo J. Campos, Maria I. Pereira, Andry M. Pinto
The increasing adoption of robotic solutions for inspection tasks in challenging environments is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in the offshore wind energy industry. This trend is driven by the critical need to safeguard the integrity and operational efficiency of offshore infrastructure. Consequently, the design of inspection vehicles must comply with rigorous requirements established
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Exploring the feasibility of autonomous forestry operations: Results from the first experimental unmanned machine J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Pedro La Hera, Omar Mendoza-Trejo, Ola Lindroos, Håkan Lideskog, Torbjörn Lindbäck, Saira Latif, Songyu Li, Magnus Karlberg
This article presents a study on the world's first unmanned machine designed for autonomous forestry operations. In response to the challenges associated with traditional forestry operations, we developed a platform equipped with essential hardware components necessary for performing autonomous forwarding tasks. Through the use of computer vision, autonomous navigation, and manipulator control algorithms
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Cover Image, Volume 41, Number 2, March 2024 J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-02-01 Yufei Jin, Yuanbo Bi, Chenxin Lyu, Yulin Bai, Zheng Zeng, Lian Lian
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Performance evaluation of newly released cameras for fruit detection and localization in complex kiwifruit orchard environments J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Xiaojuan Liu, Xudong Jing, Hanhui Jiang, Shoaib Younas, Ruiyang Wei, Haojie Dang, Zhenchao Wu, Longsheng Fu
Consumer RGB-D and binocular stereo cameras were applied to fruit detection and localization. However, few studies are documented on performance comparison of newly released cameras under same scene in complex orchard. This study evaluates performance of consumer RGB-D and binocular stereo cameras based on YOLOv5x for kiwifruit detection and localization and selection of optimal one with better application
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Design and Motion Principle Analysis of new parallel mechanisms with fewer active inputs than the degrees of freedom J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-28 Yu Wang, Can Qiu, Jiabin Wu, Yundou Xu, Fengfeng Xi, Shenglong Nie, Yongsheng Zhao
In this paper, two new parallel mechanisms (PMs) with fewer active inputs than the degrees of freedom (DOFs)are proposed: (i) an nSPS (n = 7, 8, 9) six-DOF PM with n-6 active inputs and six lockable joints. and (ii) a 3RPS-SPS 3-DOF PM with one active input and three lockable joints. Compared with the traditional PMs, the difference is that the proposed PMs can achieve the same mobility by using a
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Three-dimensional mapping and immersive human–robot interfacing utilize Kinect-style depth cameras and virtual reality for agricultural mobile robots J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-28 Dong Wang, Baohua Zhang, Jun Zhou, Yingjun Xiong, Longshen Liu, Qianqiu Tan
Navigation and autonomous operation in farmland or greenhouse environments present significant challenges for agricultural mobile robots on account of unstructured scene conditions and complex task requirements. The immersive interfaces based on human–robot interaction have been extensively developed, which bridge the high-level decision of human beings and the precise sensing and high motion ability
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Trafficability anticipation for quadruped robot in field operation J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-28 Chengjin Wang, Rui Zhang, Wenchao Dong, Tao Li, Lei Jiang, Wei Xu, Peng Xu, Yanmin Zhou, Meng Zou
The capability to predict catastrophic failures and anticipate challenges relating to trafficability enables quadruped robots to adjust their planned trajectory in time to prevent any damages. In this paper, an estimation-based method is proposed to describe the validity of the trajectory from the viewpoint of the traction performance of the terrain. The main contribution of this study lies in equipping
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Correction to “Aerial online mapping on-board system by real-time object detection for UGV path generation in unstructured outdoor environments” J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-28
Lee, J., Lim, J., Pyo, S. & Lee, J. (2023) Aerial online mapping on-board system by real-time object detection for UGV path generation in unstructured outdoor environments. Journal of Field Robotics, 40, 1754–1765. The reference appearing in the published version: Guastella, D.C., Cantelli, L., Melita, C.D. & Muscato, G. (2017) A global path planning strategy for a UGV from aerial elevation maps for
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Finite-time command filter control for dynamic positioning of remotely operated vehicles based on disturbance observer J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-24 Jun Tang, Yanxia Qin, Zhaokai Dang
To deal with the problems of low positioning accuracy and poor stability caused by model parameter uncertainty and external disturbances in the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dynamic positioning control system, the adaptive fuzzy control is combined with a disturbance observer to estimate the lumped disturbances and the error compensation mechanism is introduced to design the ROV dynamic positioning
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Modeling analysis and experiment for energy system of ocean energy driven unmanned marine vehicle: The Yulang II case study J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Qi Jia, Yulei Liao, Peihong Xu, Shuo Pang, Bo Wang, Ye Li
It is critical to master a marine robot's energy system characteristics adequately to ensure that the robot can perform long-endurance tasks in complex and ever-changing marine environments. This paper presents, for the first time, an energy system modeling and analysis method for a marine robot driven by wind, solar, and wave composite energy, using Yulang II as an example. First, an onshore experiment
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Hierarchical rule-base reduction fuzzy control for constant velocity path tracking of a differential steer vehicle J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Samuel R. Dekhterman, Maxwel T. Cichon, William R. Norris, Dustin Nottage, Ahmet Soylemezoglu
Hierarchical rule-base reduction (HRBR) was used to create a new form of waypoint navigation control for a skid-steer vehicle, which consists of a multiple input-single output nonlinear fuzzy angular velocity controller. HRBR enabled an increase in system complexity by only selecting the rules most influential on state errors. The membership functions of the fuzzy controller employed a trapezoidal
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FMCW Radar on LiDAR map localization in structural urban environments J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-21 Yukai Ma, Han Li, Xiangrui Zhao, Yaqing Gu, Xiaolei Lang, Laijian Li, Yong Liu
Multisensor fusion-based localization technology has achieved high accuracy in autonomous systems. How to improve the robustness is the main challenge at present. The most commonly used LiDAR and camera are weather-sensitive, while the frequency-modulated continuous wave Radar has strong adaptability but suffers from noise and ghost effects. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous localization method
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An autonomous UAV system based on adaptive LiDAR inertial odometry for practical exploration in complex environments J. Field Robot. (IF 8.3) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Boseong Kim, Maulana Bisyir Azhari, Jaeyong Park, David Hyunchul Shim
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer many advantages over ground vehicles, including quadruped robots, based on high maneuverability when performing exploration in complex and unknown environments. However, due to their limited computational capability, UAVs require lightweight but accurate state estimation algorithms for reliable exploration. In this paper, we propose a segmented map-based exploration system