An Intelligent Database for PSUBOT, an Autonomous Wheelchair
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Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1992 An intelligent database for PSUBOT, an autonomous wheelchair Dieudonne Mayi Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Mayi, Dieudonne, "An intelligent database for PSUBOT, an autonomous wheelchair" (1992). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4332. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6216 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Dieudonne Mayi for the Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering presented February 7, 1992. Title: An Intelligent Database for PSUBOT, an Autonomous Wheelchair. APPROVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE THESIS COMM E: Maria Balogh Jeal);-$'choltz ,/ In the design of autonomous mobile robots, databases have been used mainly to store information on the environment in which the device is to operate. For most of the models and ready systems, the database when used, is not a stand alone component in the system, rather it is only intended to keep static information on the disposition and properties of objects on the map. 2 In this thesis is implemented an intelligent database. This database is called intelligent because it is knowledge-based. It combines static facts to build more information. An intelligent database such as this one will be a plus for an intended autonomous machine such as the PSUBOT wheelchair being developed in the Department of Electrical Engineering. The database will make intelligent decisions as an intelligent function of the the central control module of the system (i.e, find a global optimum path, recognize details in the building, support sensory integration). The database will also serve as the core of pattern recognition and localization of the wheelchair inside the building. The thesis starts with the definition of a model of the environment in which the wheelchair is confined to operate, then a relational database is designed to keep this information. The second part of the thesis concentrates on finding a global shortest path using knowledge-based method combined with the Djikstra's shortest path method. The third part of the development consists of the implementation of image matching. Image matching is used to simulate the localization of the wheelchair within the building assuming that the most recent location visited is known. The evaluation of the database is based on the accuracy of the path planning results and the percentage of success of the best match of two images. The percentage of success of localization is measured as the accuracy of the database to recognize a location among a set of candidate locations. The global evaluation of the database rests upon the speed of the processing of information (path planning, image matching and localization) compatible with the operation of the wheelchair at reasonable speed. The database has been implemented on a PC-386SX with 640K base memory and a clock resolution of 20MHz. It is composed of a relational database, a knowledge base, a set of management routines and programs to perform tasks such as global path planning and image matching for localization. The relational database has been implemented using the BORLAND PARADOX3 database management system. The knowledge base part of ~ 3 the database has been implemented in a combination of BORLAND Turbo Prolog (for intelligent tasks) and BORLAND Turbo C++ (for tasks requiring faster computation power). Global path planning has been implemented with a knowledge-based approach rather than a conventional graph method in order to match the hierarchical description of a building and to add more intelligence power. Localization is the key problem for which we use image matching. The wheelchair needs to possess the capability to recognize where it is in the building. Therefore, in order to perform this task, the matching of the current image of the scene with template images of candidate locations is performed. The image matching has been implemented to match two images described each as a set of straight lines. The matching method is correspondence matching between the two sets of features with the criteria being the best acceptable match. Image matching is used for localization of the wheelchair inside the building based on matching of the currently perceived image with template images of locations previously stored in memory. AN INTELLIGENT DATABASE FOR PSUBOT, AN AUTONOMOUS WHEELCHAIR by DIEUDONNE MAYI A thesis submitted in in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 1Il ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Portland State University 1992 TO TIIE OFFICE OF GRADUATE S1UDIES: The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Dieudonne Mayi presented February 7, 1992. Michael A. Driscoll Maria Balogh Je~Scholtz I/ APPROVED: Sch C. William Savery, Vice Provost for Grad Studies and Research ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my adviser Dr. Marek A. Perkowski who encouraged me, counseled me, and patiently guided me throughout this work. I also would like to thank Dr. Michael Driscoll, Dr. Maria Balogh and Dr. Jean Scholtz for their suggestions, critiques and comments to make this thesis a better work. I express my gratitude to the PSUBOT team, especially Kevin Stanton and Cecilia Espinoza for their ideas and critiques. I thank all those who have helped me with the writing of this thesis. I would like to thank the US Agency for International Development and the Government of Cameroon for sponsoring my studies during this training program. I would like especially to thank my wife Bibiane Mayi, my friends Abdi Hassan, Monique Grone and Dan Shea who have counseled and supported me spiritually during difficult moments in the completion of this work. Finally, I will never express my gratitude enough to God for helping me with His grace to complete this work. Portland, Oregon Dieudonne Mayi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............. ...... ........................... .......... ........ .... m LIST OF TABLES ... ..... .... ........... ........ ......... ......... .. ........ ........ ......... ... w LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 1.1 The PSUBOT Wheelchair ... .... .. ... ... .... .. .. ... ..... .. 3 1.2 Problem Statement ................................................. 7 1.3 Basic Assumptions ................................................. 8 I.4 Development Methodology ....................................... 9 I.5 Goals ................................................................ 11 1.6 Evaluation .. .. .... .. .. ............ .................... .. ........ .... 12 II AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS: THE NAVIGATION AND LOCALIZATION PROBLEMS ....................... .............. .. 14 II.1 Models of Autonomous Wheelchairs and Mobile Robots .... 14 II.2 Navigation of Autonomous Mobile Robots: Definition of the Problem ... ...... ....... ......... ...... ..... ............... 26 II.3 Localization of Autonomous Mobile Robots ................. 28 III MODEL OF THE WORLD ........ ...................... ......... .... ....... 30 III.1 Definition of the Problem ....................................... 30 III.2 Environment Modelling for Autonomous Mobile Robots .. 32 v 111.3 A priori Knowledge: Description of the World Around the Robot . ... .. .. .... .... .. .. .... ... .. ..... 34 Ill.4 Models of Selected Patterns in the Indoor Scene .... .... .. .. 45 N DATABASES, OBJECT BASES, AND KNOWLEDGE BASES...... 47 IV.1 Introduction ....................................................... 47 IV.2 Database Management Systems ................................ 50 IV.3 Data Models for Database Systems ............................ 57 IV.4 Relational Databases ............................................. 60 IV.5 Knowledge Bases ................................................ 62 IV.7 Representation of Data in Mobile Robots ...................... 74 V PATH PLANNING FOR MOBILE ROBOTS ............................. 76 V.1 General Considerations .......................................... 76 V.2 Different Approaches to Path Planning ........................ 78 V.3 Optimum Path Problem .......................................... 81 V.4 Global Path Planning for PSUBOT ............................ 84 V.5 Implementation of Global Path Planning....................... 91 VI PSUBOT DATABASE ORGANIZATION ................................. 100 VI.1 General Characteristics and Assets of the Database Approach .. .... .. .. .. .... .. ............... ...... ........ 100 VI.2 Overview of the Database System ...... .............. ...... ... 102 VI.3 The Static Relational Database .................................. 104 VI.4 The Dynamic Knowledge Base ................................. 112 VI.5 The Management Routines ...... ................ ................ 114 VI.6 The Interface Routines ............................................ 123 VI. 7 Interconnection with the Other Modules of the PSUBOT System 123 vi VII MATCHING TWO IMAGES .. ..... .... ... .. ........ .. ....... ... .. ... .... .