Biblio
Robots operating alongside humans in field environments have the potential to greatly increase the situational awareness of their human teammates. A significant challenge, however, is the efficient conveyance of what the robot perceives to the human in order to achieve improved situational awareness. We believe augmented reality (AR), which allows a human to simultaneously perceive the real world and digital information situated virtually in the real world, has the potential to address this issue. Motivated by the emerging prevalence of practical human-wearable AR devices, we present a system that enables a robot to perform cooperative search with a human teammate, where the robot can both share search results and assist the human teammate in navigation to the search target. We demonstrate this ability in a search task in an uninstrumented environment where the robot identifies and localizes targets and provides navigation direction via AR to bring the human to the correct target.
Neural Style Transfer based on convolutional neural networks has produced visually appealing results for image and video data in the recent years where e.g. the content of a photo and the style of a painting are merged to a novel piece of digital art. In practical engineering development, we utilize 3D objects as standard for optimizing digital shapes. Since these objects can be represented as binary 3D voxel representation, we propose to extend the Neural Style Transfer method to 3D geometries in analogy to 2D pixel representations. In a series of experiments, we first evaluate traditional Neural Style Transfer on 2D binary monochromatic images. We show that this method produces reasonable results on binary images lacking color information and even improve them by introducing a standardized Gram matrix based loss function for style. For an application of Neural Style Transfer on 3D voxel primitives, we trained several classifier networks demonstrating the importance of a meaningful convolutional network architecture. The standardization of the Gram matrix again strongly contributes to visually improved, less noisy results. We conclude that Neural Style Transfer extended by a standardization of the Gram matrix is a promising approach for generating novel 3D voxelized objects and expect future improvements with increasing graphics memory availability for finer object resolutions.
Digital-Twins simulate physical world objects by creating 'as-is' virtual images in a cyberspace. In order to create a well synchronized digital-twin simulator in manufacturing, information and activities of a physical machine need to be virtualized. Many existing digital-twins stream read-only data of machine sensors and do not incorporate operations of manufacturing machines through Internet. In this paper, a new method of virtualization is proposed to integrate machining data and operations into the digital-twins using Internet scale machine tool communication method. A fully functional digital-twin is implemented in CPMC testbed using MTComm and several manufacturing application scenarios are developed to evaluate the proposed method and system. Performance analysis shows that it is capable of providing data-driven visual monitoring of a manufacturing process and performing manufacturing operations through digital twins over the Internet. Results of the experiments also shows that the MTComm based digital twins have an excellent efficiency.
With the globalization of manufacturing and supply chains, ensuring the security and trustworthiness of ICs has become an urgent challenge. Split manufacturing (SM) and layout camouflaging (LC) are promising techniques to protect the intellectual property (IP) of ICs from malicious entities during and after manufacturing (i.e., from untrusted foundries and reverse-engineering by end-users). In this paper, we strive for “the best of both worlds,” that is of SM and LC. To do so, we extend both techniques towards 3D integration, an up-and-coming design and manufacturing paradigm based on stacking and interconnecting of multiple chips/dies/tiers. Initially, we review prior art and their limitations. We also put forward a novel, practical threat model of IP piracy which is in line with the business models of present-day design houses. Next, we discuss how 3D integration is a naturally strong match to combine SM and LC. We propose a security-driven CAD and manufacturing flow for face-to-face (F2F) 3D ICs, along with obfuscation of interconnects. Based on this CAD flow, we conduct comprehensive experiments on DRC-clean layouts. Strengthened by an extensive security analysis (also based on a novel attack to recover obfuscated F2F interconnects), we argue that entering the next, third dimension is eminent for effective and efficient IP protection.
This paper explores the benefits of 3D face modeling for in-the-wild facial expression recognition (FER). Since there is limited in-the-wild 3D FER dataset, we first construct 3D facial data from available 2D dataset using recent advances in 3D face reconstruction. The 3D facial geometry representation is then extracted by deep learning technique. In addition, we also take advantage of manipulating the 3D face, such as using 2D projected images of 3D face as additional input for FER. These features are then fused with that of 2D FER typical network. By doing so, despite using common approaches, we achieve a competent recognition accuracy on Real-World Affective Faces (RAF) database and Static Facial Expressions in the Wild (SFEW 2.0) compared with the state-of-the-art reports. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such a deep learning combination of 3D and 2D facial modalities is presented in the context of in-the-wild FER.
To solve the high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) microwave imaging is a challenging topic due to its inherent unmanageable computation. Recently, deep learning techniques that can fully explore the prior of meaningful pattern embodied in data have begun to show its intriguing merits in various areas of inverse problem. Motivated by this observation, we here present a deep-learning-inspired approach to the high-resolution 3D microwave imaging in the context of Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), termed as GANMI in this work. Simulation and experimental results have been provided to demonstrate that the proposed GANMI can remarkably outperform conventional methods in terms of both the image quality and computational time.
This work presents the design and implementation of a large curved display system in a virtual reality (VR) environment that supports visualization of 2D datasets (e.g., images, buttons and text). By using this system, users are allowed to interact with data in front of a wide field of view and gain a high level of perceived immersion. We exhibit two use cases of this system, including (1) a virtual image wall as the display component of a 3D user interface, and (2) an inventory interface for a VR-based educational game. The use cases demonstrate capability and flexibility of curved displays in supporting varied purposes of data interaction within virtual environments.
Over the past few years, virtual and mixed reality systems have evolved significantly yielding high immersive experiences. Most of the metaphors used for interaction with the virtual environment do not provide the same meaningful feedback, to which the users are used to in the real world. This paper proposes a cyber-glove to improve the immersive sensation and the degree of embodiment in virtual and mixed reality interaction tasks. In particular, we are proposing a cyber-glove system that tracks wrist movements, hand orientation and finger movements. It provides a decoupled position of the wrist and hand, which can contribute to a better embodiment in interaction and manipulation tasks. Additionally, the detection of the curvature of the fingers aims to improve the proprioceptive perception of the grasping/releasing gestures more consistent to visual feedback. The cyber-glove system is being developed for VR applications related to real estate promotion, where users have to go through divisions of the house and interact with objects and furniture. This work aims to assess if glove-based systems can contribute to a higher sense of immersion, embodiment and usability when compared to standard VR hand controller devices (typically button-based). Twenty-two participants tested the cyber-glove system against the HTC Vive controller in a 3D manipulation task, specifically the opening of a virtual door. Metric results showed that 83% of the users performed faster door pushes, and described shorter paths with their hands wearing the cyber-glove. Subjective results showed that all participants rated the cyber-glove based interactions as equally or more natural, and 90% of users experienced an equal or a significant increase in the sense of embodiment.
Mixed reality (MR) technologies are widely used in distributed collaborative learning scenarios and have made learning and training more flexible and intuitive. However, there are many challenges in the use of MR due to the difficulty in creating a physical presence, particularly when a physical task is being performed collaboratively. We therefore developed a novel MR system to overcomes these limitations and enhance the distributed collaboration user experience. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the potential of a MR-based hand gestures system to enhance the conceptual architecture of MR in terms of both visualization and interaction in distributed collaboration. We propose a synchronous prototype named MRCollab as an immersive collaborative approach that allows two or more users to communicate with a peer based on the integration of several technologies such as video, audio, and hand gestures.
Additive manufacturing (AM, or 3D printing) is a novel manufacturing technology that has been adopted in industrial and consumer settings. However, the reliance of this technology on computerization has raised various security concerns. In this paper, we address issues associated with sabotage via tampering during the 3D printing process by presenting an approach that can verify the integrity of a 3D printed object. Our approach operates on acoustic side-channel emanations generated by the 3D printer’s stepper motors, which results in a non-intrusive and real-time validation process that is difficult to compromise. The proposed approach constitutes two algorithms. The first algorithm is used to generate a master audio fingerprint for the verifiable unaltered printing process. The second algorithm is applied when the same 3D object is printed again, and this algorithm validates the monitored 3D printing process by assessing the similarity of its audio signature with the master audio fingerprint. To evaluate the quality of the proposed thresholds, we identify the detectability thresholds for the following minimal tampering primitives: insertion, deletion, replacement, and modification of a single tool path command. By detecting the deviation at the time of occurrence, we can stop the printing process for compromised objects, thus saving time and preventing material waste. We discuss various factors that impact the method, such as background noise, audio device changes and different audio recorder positions.