Abstract
This paper presents a framework for robot programming by demonstration using gesture. It is based on a luminous multi-LED marker which is captured by a pair of industrial cameras. Using stereoscopy the marker supplies a complete 6-DoF human gesture tracking output with both position and orientation. Tests show that the developed setup is industrial grade, being precise for many industrial applications and robust particularly to lighting conditions. Attaching the marker to an operator work tool provides an efficient way to track the human movements without further intrusion in the process. The resulting path is used to generate a program for an industrial manipulator ending the cycle in an human-robot skill transfer framework.

Abstract
Autonomous vehicles have a large number of on-board sensors, not only for providing coverage all around the vehicle, but also to ensure multi-modality in the observation of the scene. Because of this, it is not trivial to come up with a single, unique representation that feeds from the data given by all these sensors. We propose an algorithm which is capable of mapping texture collected from vision based sensors onto a geometric description of the scenario constructed from data provided by 3D sensors. The algorithm uses a constrained Delaunay triangulation to produce a mesh which is updated using a specially devised sequence of operations. These enforce a partial configuration of the mesh that avoids bad quality textures and ensures that there are no gaps in the texture. Results show that this algorithm is capable of producing fine quality textures.

Abstract
Sports and physical activities allow people with disabilities to have better quality of life. The proposed work aimed to develop a multimodal interaction platform of robotic devices in a simulated environment for users to train different interface options. The suggested scenarios allow a user to interact with an Intelligent Wheelchair (IW) and with an Intelligent Robotic Ramp (IRR) performing different tasks individually or with a multiplayer option. The main objective of this multimodal interaction platform is to allow users, with severe disabilities, to move around and inclusive to play the Boccia Game more independently and autonomously. A preliminary set of experiments with 27 volunteers tested the scenarios and the multimodal interface for driving the intelligent wheelchair and to maneuver the IRR. The results show excellent performance when users maneuver the IRR in which the success achieved 90%. All dimensions of CEGEQ questionnaire presented good results. Therefore the solution created is quite satisfactory for a user point of view.

Abstract
In this paper we address the allocation of perception tasks among a set of multiple robots, for tasks such as inspection, surveillance, or search in structured environments. We consider a set of target regions of interest in a mapped environment that need to be sensed by any of the robots, and the problem is to find paths for the robots that cover all the target regions with minimal cost. We consider not only sensing range when determining paths for the robots to perceive the targets, but also a sensor cost function that can be adapted to each robot’s sensor. Thus the planning has to search for paths with minimal motion and perception cost, instead of the traditional approach where line-of-sight is the only requirement in a motion cost minimization problem. Our contribution is to use planning to determine possible perception positions for every robot, which we cluster and then use as possible waypoints that can be used to construct paths for all the robots. Given the combinatorial characteristics of path determination in this setting, we contribute a construction heuristic to find paths that guarantee full coverage of all the feasible perception target regions, while minimizing the overall cost. We assume robots are heterogeneous regarding their geometric properties, such as size and maximum perception range. We consider simulated scenarios where we show the benefits of our approach, enabling multi-robot path planning for perception of multiple regions of interest. © Springer International Publishing AG 2018.

Abstract
Develop ground robots for crop monitoring and harvesting in steep slope vineyards is a complex challenge. Because of two main reasons: harsh condition of the terrain and unstable localization accuracy got from Global Positioning Systems (GPS). This paper presents a hybrid SLAM (VineSLAM) considering low cost landmarks to increase the robot localization accuracy, robustness and redundancy on these steep slope vineyards. Also, we present a cost-effective robot to carry-out crop monitoring tasks in steep slope vineyard environment. Test results got in a simulated and in a real test case supports the proposed approach and robot.

Abstract
We introduce in this paper visibility maps for robots of any shape, representing the reachability limit of the robot's motion and sensing in a 2D gridmap with obstacles. The brute-force approach to determine the optimal visibility map is computationally expensive, and prohibitive with dynamic obstacles. We contribute the Robot-Dependent Visibility Map (RDVM) as a close approximation to the optimal, and an effective algorithm to compute it. The RDVM is a function of the robot's shape, initial position, and sensor model. We first overview the computation of RDVM for the circular robot case in terms of the partial morphological closing operation and the optimal choice for the critical points position. We then present how the RDVM for any-shape robots is computed. In order to handle any robot shape, we introduce in the first step multiple layers that discretize the robot orientation. In the second step, our algorithm determines the frontiers of actuation, similarly to the case of the the circular robot case. We then derive the concept of critical points to the any-shape robot, as the points that maximize expected visibility inside unreachable regions. We compare our method with the ground-truth in a simulated map compiled to capture a variety of challenges of obstacle distribution and type, and discuss the accuracy of our approximation to the optimal visibility map.