ACRA 2008

Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 2008

Jonghyuk Kim & Robert Mahony (editors)

December 3 – 5, 2008
Canberra, Australia
ISBN 978-0-646-50643-2

Photograph by Navinda Kottege

Robotics Quiz Evening

Winners: Hugh Durrant-Whyte, Stefan B. Williams, Gordon Wyeth,
Rob Mahony, David Prasser, Michael Jakuba,
Navid Nourani-Vatani and Mike Bosse
(Photograph by Jon Roberts)

All full papers submitted to ACRA 2008 will undergo a peer-review process. Each manuscript will be reviewed by at least two reviewers who will give detailed comments. If the submission is accepted, the authors will submit a revised (“camera-ready”) version that takes into account this feedback. The review process is managed by the program chair of the conference.

All papers are reviewed using a single-blind review process: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers do not know each other’s identities, nor do the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript.

Welcome to ACRA 2008 – 10th Anniversary of ACRA

ACRA, the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, is the annual conference for the Australian Robotics and Automation Association, and Australia and New Zealand’s leading forum for work in all areas of robotics and automation. ACRA attracts researchers and practitioners from around Australia and New Zealand, and an increasing number of roboticists from overseas. The work presented at ACRA 2008 is highly relevant to current interests in international robotics research. ACRA has an Australasian robotics flavour, with an emphasis on field robotics, autonomous systems, and applications in the primary industries that continue to form the basis of the Australian and New Zealand economies in the 21st century. This year, 2008, marks the tenth anniversary of ACRA.

We have endeavoured to ensure a balanced programme: maintaining a high standard of quality, while being inclusive of the up and coming students and junior researchers in the Australasian robotics community. The Programme Committee accepted 50 full papers for presentation and publication after a review process in which full manuscripts were reviewed by at least two committee members. The accepted papers were drawn from 64 papers submitted in total. In keeping with recent trends, the primary medium for the proceedings is CD-ROM, and we will be maintaining the proceedings online at the ARAA website. In addition to the technical paper programme, the programme includes the Annual General Meeting for the ARAA, and plenty of social opportunities for Australasian and international robotics researchers to network and develop cross-institutional links.

We hope you enjoy your time at the conference and that you come away knowing a little bit more, having met and discussed robotics issues with a colleague, having attended a paper session, or having had a quite technical debate over dinner. To all, we warmly welcome you to ACRA 2008, and to Canberra.

Jonghyuk Kim
Robert Mahony
ACRA Co-Chairs
Canberra, December 2008

on behalf of the Programme Committee.

Organisation

Sponsoring Organisations

Australian Robotics and Automation Association Inc.
ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science, Australian National University

Co-Chairs

Jonghyuk Kim, ANU
Robert Mahony, ANU

Programme Committee

Ali Bab-Hadiashar
Swinburne University
Nick Barnes
National ICT Austalia
John Billingsly
University of Southern Queensland
Mike Bosse
CSIRO
Glen Bright
University of Natal
Peter Corke
CSIRO
Gamini Dissanayake
University of Technology Sydney
Matthew Dunbabin
CSIRO
Roy Featherstone
Australian National University
Lindsey Kleeman
Monash University
Tien-Fu Lu
University of Adelaide
Bruce MacDonald
University of Auckland
Karol Miller
University of Western Australia
Reza Moheimani
University of Newcastle
Eduardo Nebot
University of Sydney
Maurice Pagnucco
University of New South Wales
Himanshu Pota
ADFA
Jonathan Roberts
CSIRO
Andy Russell
Monash University
Claude Sammut
University of New South Wales
Steve Scheding
University of Sydney
Bijan Shirinzadeh
Monash University
David Stirling
University of Wollongong
Karl Stol
University of Auckland
Salah Sukkarieh
University of Sydney
James Trevelyan
University of Western Australia
Ljubo Vlacic
Griffith University
Rodney Walker
Queensland University of Technology
Stefan Williams
University of Sydney
Gordon Wyeth
University of Queensland
Peter Xu
Massey University
Uwe R. Zimmer
Australian National University

Table of Contents

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS & AUTOMATION

Mining GPS Data for Extracting Significant Places
Gabriel Agamennoni, Juan Nieto, Eduardo Nebot
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System Design
Dikai Liu, Gamini Dissanayake, P.B. Manamperi, Philip Brooks, Gu Fang
Collision-Free Workspace Design Optimisation of the 3-DOF Gantry-Tau Parallel Kinematic Machine
Ilya Tyapin

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider
Asher Bender, Daniel M Steinberg, Ariell L Friedman, Stefan B Williams
Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Hayden Neeland, Mizu Ardra, Dan Morgan, Bijan Shirinzadeh
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Wireless Sensor Networks
Steven Teh, Luis Mejias, Peter Corke, Wen Hu
Multimodal Hybrid Powerplant for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Robotics
Richard Glassock
Autonomous Search for Hydrothermal Vent Fields with Occupancy Grid Maps
Michael V Jakuba, Dana R Yoerger

NAVIGATION-I

IMU Aided 3D Visual Odometry for Car-Like Vehicles
Navid Nourani-Vatani, Jonathan Roberts, Mandyam Srinivasan
Go with the Flow: Optimal AUV Path Planning in Coastal Environments
Jonas Witt, Matthew Dunbabin
Planning Continuous Curvature Paths for UAVs Amongst Obstacles
Kwangjin Yang, Salah Sukkarieh
Sound-scapes for Robot Localisation through Dimensionality Reduction
Aaron S.W. Wong, Stephan K. Chalup

MACHINE VISION-I

Development of a Hemispherical Compound Eye for Egomotion Estimation
Will Maddern, Gordon Wyeth
An Automated Colour Calibration System using Multivariate Gaussian Mixtures to Segment HSI Colour Space
Naomi Henderson, Robert King, Stephan Chalup

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & BIOMIMETICS

Bioinspired Early Visual Processing: The Attention Condensation Mechanism
Thomas Müller, Alois Knoll
Design and Fabrication of Dragonfly Test Bed for Aerodynamic Characterization
Yutong wang, Shankar Kalyanasundaram, John Young
Reading the Play – Adaptation by Prediction of Agent Motion
David M Ball, Gordon F Wyeth
Motion segmentation for humanoid control planning
Matthew Field, David Stirling, Fazel Naghdy, Zengxi Pan
Attention Focus in Curious, Reconfigurable Robots
Kathryn Merrick, Elanor Huntington

SLAM

Iterated SLSJF: A Sparse Local Submap Joining Algorithm with Improved Consistency
Shoudong Huang, Zhan Wang, Gamini Dissanayake, Udo Frese
Tree of Words for Visual Loop Closure Detection in Urban SLAM
Jonas Callmer, Karl Granström, Juan Nieto, Fabio Ramos
Time Synchronisation and Calibration of Odometry and Range Sensors for High-Speed Mobile Robot Mapping
Fredy Tungadi, Lindsay Kleeman
Real Time Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping for the Player Project
Yung-Hsun Yang, Bruce MacDonald, Karl Stol
A Repetitive Observation Strategy for Recognizing a True Anomaly and Estimating its Position
Muhammad Fahmi Miskon, R. Andrew Russell

MANIPULATORS

Fine Sensitive Manipulation
Eduardo Torres-Jara, Gabriel Gomez
Robot Manipulation Grasping of Recognized Objects for Assistive Technology Support Using Stereo Vision
Sutonoe effendi, Ray Jarvis, David suter
Reconfigurable Robot Components Based on Liquid Metal
R. Andrew Russell
A New Family of Maximally Regular T2R1-type Spatial Parallel Manipulators with Unlimited Rotation of the Moving Platform
Grigore Gogu
Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulators Using Linear and Nonlinear PD-type Controllers
Fan Liu, Meng Joo Er

MACHINE VISION-II

Real Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
Rebecca G Dengate, Nick Barnes, John Lim, Chi Luu, Robyn Guymer
People Tracking from a Moving Panoramic Camera
Punarjay Chakravarty, Ray Jarvis
Movie1 Movie2 Movie3Movie4(1.6M)
A Robust Approach for Detecting the Edges of Outdoor Wire Fences
Guntur Tanjung, Tien-Fu Lu, Peter Lozo, Tommie Liddy
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
John Lai, Jason Ford, Peter O’Shea, Rodney Walker, Michael Bosse
Head-Pose Tracking with a Time-of-Flight Camera
Simon Meers, Koren Ward
Movie1(23M)

HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACES

Virtual force feedback teleoperation of the InsectBot using optic flow
Felix Schill, Robert Mahony, Peter Corke, Luke Cole
Movie1(12M)
Markerless Augmented Reality for Robots in Unprepared Environments
Ian Y-H Chen, Bruce MacDonald, Burkhard Wuensche
Complex Control Skills Acquisition Supported by Haptic Feedback
Felix Schill, Uwe R. Zimmer
Application of Fuzzy NARX to Human Gait Modelling and Identification
Amir Hesami, Fazel Naghdy, David Stirling, Harold Hill
Improving the 2.5D Stage Robotic Simulator
Nick Wong, Jui-Chun Peng Hsu, Toby H. J. Collett, Bruce A. MacDonald

NAVIGATION-II

Insect Inspired Three Dimensional Centring
Luke Cole, Nick Barnes
Movie1(1.7M)
Obstacle Avoidance Using Complex Vector Fields
Tommie Liddy, Tien-Fu Lu, Peter Lozo, David Harvey
Towards a Platform Independent Real-Time Panoramic Vision Based Localisation System
Nghia Ho, Ray Jarvis
Cross-correlation tracking for Maximum Length Sequence based acoustic localization
Navinda Kottege, Uwe Zimmer
Experimental Results of Differential Optic-Flow System
Richard Kathage, Jonghyuk Kim

SYSTEMS & SOFTWARES

Develop Real-time Application with Java Based Sun SPOT
li chen, Phillip McKerrow, Qinghua Lu
Using Contextual Knowledge to Inform a Multimodal Interactive System
Elizabeth Harte, Raymond Jarvis
A Simulation Framework for Plume-tracing Research
Zhenzhang Liu, Tien-Fu Lu
A Low Power Walk for the NAO Robot
Jason A Kulk, James S Welsh
Designing SANDRA: An Autonomous Tour Guide Robot for the University of Technology
Michael J. Behrens, Marc G. Carmichael, Mitesh Patel

Index of Authors

Author Papers
Agamennoni, Gabriel
Mining GPS Data for Extracting Significant Places
Ardra, Mizu
Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Ball, David M
Reading the Play – Adaptation by Prediction of Agent Motion
Barnes, Nick
Insect Inspired Three Dimensional CentringReal Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
Behrens, Michael J.
Designing SANDRA: An Autonomous Tour Guide Robot for the University of Technology
Bender, Asher
Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider
Bosse, Michael
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
Brooks, Philip
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System Design
Callmer, Jonas
Tree of Words for Visual Loop Closure Detection in Urban SLAM
Carmichael, Marc G.
Designing SANDRA: An Autonomous Tour Guide Robot for the University of Technology
Chakravarty, Punarjay
People Tracking from a Moving Panoramic Camera
Chalup, Stephan
An Automated Colour Calibration System using Multivariate Gaussian Mixtures to Segment HSI Colour SpaceSound-scapes for Robot Localisation through Dimensionality Reduction
Chen, Ian Y-H
Markerless Augmented Reality for Robots in Unprepared Environments
Chen, Li
Develop Real-time Application with Java Based Sun SPOT
Cole, Luke
Insect Inspired Three Dimensional CentringVirtual force feedback teleoperation of the InsectBot using optic flow
Collett, Toby H. J.
Improving the 2.5D Stage Robotic Simulator
Corke, Peter
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Wireless Sensor NetworksVirtual force feedback teleoperation of the InsectBot using optic flow
Dengate, Rebecca G
Real Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
Dissanayake, Gamini
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System DesignIterated SLSJF: A Sparse Local Submap Joining Algorithm with Improved Consistency
Dunbabin, Matthew
Go with the Flow: Optimal AUV Path Planning in Coastal Environments
Effendi, Sutonoe
Robot Manipulation Grasping of Recognized Objects for Assistive Technology Support Using Stereo Vision
Er, Meng Joo
Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulators Using Linear and Nonlinear PD-type Controllers
Fang, Gu
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System Design
Field, Matthew
Motion segmentation for humanoid control planning
Frese, Udo
Iterated SLSJF: A Sparse Local Submap Joining Algorithm with Improved Consistency
Friedman, Ariell L
Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider
Ford, Jason
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
Glassock, Richard
Multimodal Hybrid Powerplant for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Robotics
Gogu, Grigore
A New Family of Maximally Regular T2R1-type Spatial Parallel Manipulators with Unlimited Rotation of the Moving Platform
Gomez, Gabriel
Fine Sensitive Manipulation
Granström, Karl
Tree of Words for Visual Loop Closure Detection in Urban SLAM
Guymer, Robyn
Real Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
Harte, Elizabeth
Using Contextual Knowledge to Inform a Multimodal Interactive System
Harvey, David
Obstacle Avoidance Using Complex Vector Fields
Henderson, Naomi
An Automated Colour Calibration System using Multivariate Gaussian Mixtures to Segment HSI Colour Space
Hesami, Amir
Application of Fuzzy NARX to Human Gait Modelling and Identification
Hill, Harold
Application of Fuzzy NARX to Human Gait Modelling and Identification
Ho, Nghia
Towards a Platform Independent Real-Time Panoramic Vision Based Localisation System
Hsu, Jui-Chun Peng
Improving the 2.5D Stage Robotic Simulator
Hu, Wen
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Wireless Sensor Networks
Huang, Shoudong
Iterated SLSJF: A Sparse Local Submap Joining Algorithm with Improved Consistency
Huntington, Elanor
Attention Focus in Curious, Reconfigurable Robots
Jakuba, Michael V
Autonomous Search for Hydrothermal Vent Fields with Occupancy Grid Maps
Jarvis, Ray
People Tracking from a Moving Panoramic CameraRobot Manipulation Grasping of Recognized Objects for Assistive Technology Support Using Stereo VisionTowards a Platform Independent Real-Time Panoramic Vision Based Localisation SystemUsing Contextual Knowledge to Inform a Multimodal Interactive System
Kalyanasundaram, Shankar
Design and Fabrication of Dragonfly Test Bed for Aerodynamic Characterization
Kathage, Richard
Experimental Results of Differential Optic-Flow System
Kim, Jonghyuk
Experimental Results of Differential Optic-Flow System
King, Robert
An Automated Colour Calibration System using Multivariate Gaussian Mixtures to Segment HSI Colour Space
Kleeman, Lindsay
Time Synchronisation and Calibration of Odometry and Range Sensors for High-Speed Mobile Robot Mapping
Kottege, Navinda
Cross-correlation tracking for Maximum Length Sequence based acoustic localization
Knoll, Alois
Bioinspired Early Visual Processing: The Attention Condensation Mechanism
Kulk, Jason A
A Low Power Walk for the NAO Robot
Lai, John
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
Liddy, Tommie
A Robust Approach for Detecting the Edges of Outdoor Wire FencesObstacle Avoidance Using Complex Vector Fields
Lim, John
Real Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
Liu, Dikai
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System Design
Liu, Fan
Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulators Using Linear and Nonlinear PD-type Controllers
Liu, Zhenzhang
A Simulation Framework for Plume-tracing Research
Lozo, Peter
A Robust Approach for Detecting the Edges of Outdoor Wire FencesObstacle Avoidance Using Complex Vector Fields
Lu, Tien-Fu
A Robust Approach for Detecting the Edges of Outdoor Wire FencesA Simulation Framework for Plume-tracing Research,Obstacle Avoidance Using Complex Vector Fields
Lu, Qinghua
Develop Real-time Application with Java Based Sun SPOT
Luu, Chi
Real Time Motion Recovery using a Hemispherical Sensor
MacDonald, Bruce A.
Improving the 2.5D Stage Robotic SimulatorMarkerless Augmented Reality for Robots in Unprepared EnvironmentsReal Time Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping for the Player Project
Maddern, Will
Development of a Hemispherical Compound Eye for Egomotion Estimation
Mahony, Robert
Virtual force feedback teleoperation of the InsectBot using optic flow
Manamperi, P.B.
A Robotic System for Steel Bridge Mainteance: Research Challenges and System Design
McKerrow, Phillip
Develop Real-time Application with Java Based Sun SPOT
Meers, Simon
Head-Pose Tracking with a Time-of-Flight Camera
Mejias, Luis
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Wireless Sensor Networks
Merrick, Kathryn
Attention Focus in Curious, Reconfigurable Robots
Miskon, Muhammad Fahmi
A Repetitive Observation Strategy for Recognizing a True Anomaly and Estimating its Position
Morgan, Dan
Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Müller, Thomas
Bioinspired Early Visual Processing: The Attention Condensation Mechanism
Naghdy, Fazel
Application of Fuzzy NARX to Human Gait Modelling and IdentificationMotion segmentation for humanoid control planning
Nebot, Eduardo
Mining GPS Data for Extracting Significant Places
Neeland, Hayden
Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Nieto, Juan
Mining GPS Data for Extracting Significant PlacesTree of Words for Visual Loop Closure Detection in Urban SLAM
Nourani-Vatani, Navid
IMU Aided 3D Visual Odometry for Car-Like Vehicles
O’Shea, Peter
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
Ramos, Fabio
Tree of Words for Visual Loop Closure Detection in Urban SLAM
Pan, Zengxi
Motion segmentation for humanoid control planning
Patel, Mitesh
Designing SANDRA: An Autonomous Tour Guide Robot for the University of Technology
Roberts, Jonathan
IMU Aided 3D Visual Odometry for Car-Like Vehicles
Russell, R. Andrew
A Repetitive Observation Strategy for Recognizing a True Anomaly and Estimating its PositionReconfigurable Robot Components Based on Liquid Metal
Schill, Felix
Complex Control Skills Acquisition Supported by Haptic Feedback,Virtual force feedback teleoperation of the InsectBot using optic flow
Shirinzadeh, Bijan
Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Srinivasan, Mandyam
IMU Aided 3D Visual Odometry for Car-Like Vehicles
Steinberg, Daniel M
Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider
Stirling, David
Application of Fuzzy NARX to Human Gait Modelling and IdentificationMotion segmentation for humanoid control planning
Stol, Karl
Real Time Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping for the Player Project
Sukkarieh, Salah
Planning Continuous Curvature Paths for UAVs Amongst Obstacles
Suter, David
Robot Manipulation Grasping of Recognized Objects for Assistive Technology Support Using Stereo Vision
Tanjung, Guntur
A Robust Approach for Detecting the Edges of Outdoor Wire Fences
Teh, Steven
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Wireless Sensor Networks
Torres-Jara, Eduardo
Fine Sensitive Manipulation
Tyapin, Ilya
Collision-Free Workspace Design Optimisation of the 3-DOF Gantry-Tau Parallel Kinematic Machine
Tungadi, Fredy
Time Synchronisation and Calibration of Odometry and Range Sensors for High-Speed Mobile Robot Mapping
Walker, Rodney
A Study of Morphological Pre-Processing Approaches for Track-Before-Detect Dim Target Detection
Wang, Yutong
Design and Fabrication of Dragonfly Test Bed for Aerodynamic Characterization
Wang, Zhan
Iterated SLSJF: A Sparse Local Submap Joining Algorithm with Improved Consistency
Ward, Koren
Head-Pose Tracking with a Time-of-Flight Camera
Welsh, James S
A Low Power Walk for the NAO Robot
Williams. Stefan B
Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider
Witt, Jonas
Go with the Flow: Optimal AUV Path Planning in Coastal Environments
Wong, Aaron S.W.
Sound-scapes for Robot Localisation through Dimensionality Reduction
Wong, Nick
Improving the 2.5D Stage Robotic Simulator
Wuensche, Burkhard
Markerless Augmented Reality for Robots in Unprepared Environments
Wyeth, Gordon
Development of a Hemispherical Compound Eye for Egomotion EstimationReading the Play – Adaptation by Prediction of Agent Motion
Yang, Kwangjin
Planning Continuous Curvature Paths for UAVs Amongst Obstacles
Yang, Yung-Hsun
Real Time Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping for the Player Project
Yoerger, Dana R
Autonomous Search for Hydrothermal Vent Fields with Occupancy Grid Maps
Young, John
Design and Fabrication of Dragonfly Test Bed for Aerodynamic Characterization
Zimmer, Uwe
Complex Control Skills Acquisition Supported by Haptic Feedback,Cross-correlation tracking for Maximum Length Sequence based acoustic localization