@inproceedings{BrooksMakarenkoKauppetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Makarenko, Alexei and Kaupp, Tobias and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh and Dellaert, Frank}, title = {Decentralised Data Fusion with Dynamic Topologies-A Graphical Model Approach}, series = {IFAC Proceedings Volumes}, volume = {42}, booktitle = {IFAC Proceedings Volumes}, number = {20}, pages = {222 -- 227}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KauppBrooksUpcroftetal., author = {Kaupp, Tobias and Brooks, Alex and Upcroft, Ben and Makarenko, Alexei}, title = {Building a software architecture for a human-robot team using the orca framework}, series = {Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation}, booktitle = {Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation}, publisher = {IEEE}, doi = {10.1109/ROBOT.2007.364051}, pages = {3736 -- 3741}, abstract = {This paper considers the problem of building a software architecture for a human-robot team. The objective of the team is to build a multi-attribute map of the world by performing information fusion. A decentralized approach to information fusion is adopted to achieve the system properties of scalability and survivability. Decentralization imposes constraints on the design of the architecture and its implementation. We show how a component-based software engineering approach can address these constraints. The architecture is implemented using Orca - a component-based software framework for robotic systems. Experimental results from a deployed system comprised of an unmanned air vehicle, a ground vehicle, and two human operators are presented. A section on the lessons learned is included which may be applicable to other distributed systems with complex algorithms. We also compare Orca to the player software framework in the context of distributed systems.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BrooksMakarenkoKauppetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Makarenko, Alexei and Kaupp, Tobias and Williams, Stefan and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh F.}, title = {Implementation of an indoor active sensor network}, series = {9th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2004, Singapore}, booktitle = {9th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2004, Singapore}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UpcroftRidleyOngetal., author = {Upcroft, Ben and Ridley, Matthew and Ong, Lee Ling and Douillard, Bertrand and Kaupp, Tobias and Kumar, Suresh and Bailey, Tim and Ramos, Fabio and Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Sukkarieh, Salah and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh F.}, title = {Multilevel state estimation in an outdoor decentralised sensor network}, series = {10th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2006 (ISER'06), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil}, booktitle = {10th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2006 (ISER'06), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MakarenkoBrooksKauppetal., author = {Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh and Dellaert, Frank}, title = {Decentralised data fusion: A graphical model approach}, series = {2009 12th International Conference on Information Fusion}, booktitle = {2009 12th International Conference on Information Fusion}, pages = {545 -- 554}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MakarenkoBrooksKaupp, author = {Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias}, title = {Orca: Components for robotics}, series = {International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) - Workshop for Robotic Standardization at IROS'06}, booktitle = {International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) - Workshop for Robotic Standardization at IROS'06}, pages = {163 -- 168}, abstract = {This paper describes Orca: an open-source software project which applies Component-Based Software Engineering principles to robotics. The paper focuses on the technical aspects of the framework which set it apart from other similar efforts. Among them are the adaption of a commercial middleware package, minimalist approach to framework design, and a commitment to multi-language multi-platform support. The paper explains our decision to use Ice -- a relatively recent entry in the field of general-purpose middleware packages.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MakarenkoBrooksKaupp, author = {Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias}, title = {On the benefits of making robotic software frameworks thin}, series = {International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - Workshop for Measures and Procedures for the Evaluation of Robot Architectures and Middleware at IROS'07}, volume = {2}, booktitle = {International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - Workshop for Measures and Procedures for the Evaluation of Robot Architectures and Middleware at IROS'07}, abstract = {Today's reusable robotics software is provided by several self-contained open-source projects with virtually no software reuse between them. Such partitioning leads to problems with software quantity, quality, ease of evaluation and, ultimately, to poor end user experience. By reviewing several of the projects we observe that all of them contain a mix of three types of software: 1) driver and algorithm implementations, 2) communication middleware, and 3) robotic software framework. We show that more than half of the combined code base contains software which could be highly reusable but only a small fraction of it actually is. We argue that formal separation of the three groups in the existing and future software projects would offer several potential advantages. Availability of framework-independent code would enable community-wide library-based software reuse in addition to the existing framework-wide component- based reuse. Another important benefit is related to evaluation procedures. The three software types are very different and should be evaluated separately, using different criteria. The first two types allow quantitative comparisons which are well documented in the literature. The last one is largely qualitative and, therefore, more subjective. Practically, we recommend today's projects to refactor and eject the driver and algorithm implementation code and focus on the task of software integration. Thin frameworks can be numerous, increasing the diversity of options available to robotics practitioners. Finally, we discuss distribution options for the refactored framework-independent code including the option of creating a Common Robotic Project.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BrooksKauppMakarenko, author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei}, title = {Randomised MPC-based motion-planning for mobile robot obstacle avoidance}, series = {2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation}, booktitle = {2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation}, doi = {10.1109/ROBOT.2009.5152240}, pages = {3962 -- 3967}, abstract = {This paper presents an algorithm for real-time sensor-based motion planning under kinodynamic constraints, in unknown environments. The objective of the trajectory-generation algorithm is to optimise a cost function out to a limited time horizon. The space of control trajectories is searched by expanding a tree using randomised sampling, in a manner similar to an RRT. The algorithm is improved by seeding the tree using the best control trajectory from the previous iteration, and by pruning branches based on a bound to the cost function and the best trajectory found so far. Performance of the algorithm is analysed in simulation. In addition, the algorithm has been implemented on two kinds of vehicles: the Segway RMP and a four-wheel-drive. The algorithm has been used to drive autonomously for a combined total on the order of hundreds of hours.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BrooksKauppMakarenkoetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei and Williams, Stefan and Oreback, Anders}, title = {Towards component-based robotics}, series = {2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems}, booktitle = {2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems}, pages = {163 -- 168}, abstract = {This paper gives an overview of component-based software engineering (CBSE), motivates its application to the field of mobile robotics, and proposes a particular component model. CBSE is an approach to system-building that aims to shift the emphasis from programming to composing systems from a mixture of off-the-shelf and custom-built software components. This paper argues that robotics is particularly well-suited for and in need of component-based ideas. Furthermore, now is the right time for their introduction. The paper introduces Orca - an open-source component-based software engineering framework proposed for mobile robotics with an associated repository of free, reusable components for building mobile robotic systems.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UpcroftRidleyOngetal., author = {Upcroft, Ben and Ridley, Matthew and Ong, Lee Ling and Douillard, Bertrand and Kaupp, Tobias and Kumar, Suresh and Bailey, Tim and Ramos, Fabio and Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Sukkarieh, Salah and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh F.}, title = {Multi-level state estimation in an outdoor decentralised sensor network}, series = {Experimental Robotics: The 10th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR, volume 39)}, booktitle = {Experimental Robotics: The 10th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR, volume 39)}, editor = {Khatib, Oussama and Kumar, Vijay and Rus, Daniela}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, isbn = {978-3-540-77456-3}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-540-77457-0_33}, pages = {355 -- 365}, abstract = {Decentralised estimation of heterogeneous sensors is performed on an outdoor network. Attributes such as position, appearance, and identity represented by non-Gaussian distributions are used in in the fusion process. It is shown here that real-time decentralised data fusion of non-Gaussian estimates can be used to build rich environmental maps. Human operators are also used as additional sensors in the network to complement robotic information.}, language = {en} } @incollection{BrooksMakarenkoKauppetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Makarenko, Alexei and Kaupp, Tobias and Williams, Stefan and Durrant-Whyte, Hugh}, title = {Implementation of an indoor active sensor network}, series = {Experimental Robotics IX: The 9th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR,volume 21)}, booktitle = {Experimental Robotics IX: The 9th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR,volume 21)}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, isbn = {978-3-540-28816-9}, doi = {10.1007/11552246_38}, pages = {397 -- 406}, abstract = {This paper describes an indoor Active Sensor Network, focussing on the implementation aspects of the system, including communication and the application framework. To make the system description more tangible we describe the latest in a series of indoor experiments implemented using ASN. The task is to detect and map motion of people (and robots) in an office space using a network of 12 stationary sensors. The network was operational for several days, with individual platform coming on and off line. On several occasions the network consisted of 39 components. The paper includes a section on the lessons learned during the project's design and development which may be applicable to other heterogeneous distributed systems with data-intensive algorithms.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BiggsMakarenkoBrooksetal., author = {Biggs, Geoffrey and Makarenko, Alexei and Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Moser, Michael}, title = {Gearbox: Truly reusable robot software (Poster)}, series = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2008}, booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2008}, language = {en} } @incollection{BrooksKauppMakarenkoetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei and Williams, Stefan and Oreb{\"a}ck, Anders}, title = {Orca: A component model and repository}, series = {Software engineering for experimental robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR,volume 30)}, booktitle = {Software engineering for experimental robotics ; Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR,volume 30)}, editor = {Brugali, Davide}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, isbn = {978-3-540-68949-2}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-540-68951-5_13}, pages = {231 -- 251}, abstract = {This Chapter describes Orca: an open-source project which applies Component-Based Software Engineering principles to robotics. It provides the means for defining and implementing interfaces such that components developed independently are likely to be inter-operable. In addition it provides a repository of free re-useable components. Orca attempts to be widely applicable by imposing minimal design constraints. This Chapter describes lessons learned while using Orca and steps taken to improve the framework based on those lessons. Improvements revolve around middleware issues and the problems encountered while scaling to larger distributed systems. Results are presented from systems that were implemented.}, language = {en} } @article{BrooksKauppMakarenkoetal., author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, A. and Williams, S. and Oreback, A.}, title = {Software Engineering for Experimental Robotics}, series = {Springer Tracts Series in Advanced Robotics}, volume = {30}, journal = {Springer Tracts Series in Advanced Robotics}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, pages = {231 -- 251}, language = {en} } @misc{BrooksKauppMakarenko, author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei}, title = {A method of providing a live fire training environment and a moveable target for use therein (Patent)}, language = {en} } @misc{BrooksKauppMakarenko, author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei}, title = {Target device for use in a live fire training exercise and method of operating the target device (Patent)}, language = {en} } @misc{BrooksKauppMakarenko, author = {Brooks, Alex and Kaupp, Tobias and Makarenko, Alexei}, title = {Systems and methods for arranging firearms training scenarios (Patent)}, language = {en} }