London, May 25 (ANI): Many domestic chores have been a big problem for robots to handle, but now a number of softwares have been developed to tackle the problem.
Pieter Abbeel and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, for example, have devised software routines capable of recognising items of clothing even when they are crumpled up on a flat surface such as a bed.
The software, made by Willow Garage in Menlo Park, California, runs on a commercial robot called PR2.
The robot identifies a mystery garment by first holding it up using one of its two grippers. Then it estimates the garment's length, by using its twin cameras to detect its lowest point.
Next it holds the garment with both grippers and records its outline as well as distinguishing features that may correspond to a collar or buttons.
The software then applies a statistical technique called principal component analysis (PCA) to generate a digital signature - a list of parameters that characterise an item according to whether it has sleeves or buttons, for example.
By comparing it against a database of common clothes, the robot can decide what kind of garment it is holding, and then fold the item according to the appropriate entry in a stored table of instructions.
In tests run by the researchers, the PCA-based technique proved around 90 percent accurate at identifying garments.
Kerstin Dautenhahn, a roboticist at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, welcomed the fact that robots are moving beyond being able to simply dance or run, and are being programmed to perform what at first sight seem mundane tasks.
"These 'little' tasks are in fact very valid challenges that are big problems for machines. It's time they were focused on," New Scientist quoted her as saying. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
