CIFellow-Edgar Lobaton (Mentor Ron Alterovitz)

Enabling Topological Exploration, Reconstruction, and Motion Planning
in Changing Environments using Vision

Principal Investigator: Ron Alterovitz
Funding Agency: Computing Research Association
Agency Number: CIF-52

Abstract
The object of this project is the development of tools to enable exploration and motion planning using visual sensors on environments without prior mapping or localization information. The two scenarios under consideration are: (1) an indoor/outdoor uncalibrated distributed camera network for optimal path planning and visual reconstruction of environments, and (2) robotic assisted surgical procedures in which cameras are used for tissue tracking and motion planning. The algorithms under development incorporate topological invariants used to characterize the environment and enable planning without the need of full metric estimation of the environment.