Visual localization and mapping for mobile robots has been achieved with a large variety of methods. Among them, topological navigation using vision has the advantage of offering a scalable representation, and of relying on a common and affordable sensor. In previous work, we developed such an incremental and real-time topological mapping and localization solution, without using any metrical information, and by relying on a Bayesian visual loop-closure detection algorithm. In this paper, we propose an extension of this work by integrating metrical information from robot odometry in the topological map, so as to obtain a globally consistent environment model. Also, we demonstrate the performance of our system on the global localization task, where the robot has to determine its position in a map acquired beforehand.

In robotic applications of visual simultaneous localization and mapping, loop-closure detection and global localization are two issues that require the capacity to recognize a previously visited place from current camera measurements. We present an online method that makes it possible to detect when an image comes from an already perceived scene using local shape information. Our approach extends the bag of visual words method used in image recognition to incremental conditions and relies on Bayesian filtering to estimate loop-closure probability. We demonstrate the efficiency of our solution by real-time loop-closure detection under strong perceptual aliasing conditions in an indoor image sequence taken with a handheld camera.

In robotics, appearance-based topological map building consists in infering the topology of the environment explored by a robot from its sensor measurements. In this paper, we propose a vision-based framework that considers this data association problem from a loop-closure detection perspective in order to correctly assign each measurement to its location. Our approach relies on the visual bag of words paradigm to represent the images and on a discrete Bayes filter to compute the probability of loop-closure. We demonstrate the efficiency of our solution by incremental and real-time consistent map building in an indoor environment and under strong perceptual aliasing conditions using a single monocular wide-angle camera.

In robotic applications of visual simultaneous localization and mapping techniques, loop-closure detection and global localization are two issues that require the capacity to recognize a previously visited place from current camera measurements. We present an online method that makes it possible to detect when an image comes from an already perceived scene using local shape and color information. Our approach extends the bag-of-words method used in image classification to incremental conditions and relies on Bayesian filtering to estimate loop-closure probability. We demonstrate the efficiency of our solution by real-time loop-closure detection under strong perceptual aliasing conditions in both indoor and outdoor image sequences taken with a handheld camera.

This article describes how the SGOCE paradigm has been used within the context of a 'minimal simulation' strategy to evolve neural networks controlling locomotion and obstacle avoidance in a six-legged robot. A standard genetic algorithm has been used to evolve developmental programs according to which recurrent networks of leaky-integrator neurons were grown in a user-provided developmental substrate and were connected to the robot's sensors and actuators. Specific grammars have been used to limit the complexity of the developmental programs and of the corresponding neural controllers. Such controllers were first evolved through simulation and then successfully downloaded on the real robot.

This article is centred on the application of evolutionary techniques to the automatic design of neural controllers for mobile robots. About 30 papers are reviewed and classified in a framework that takes into account the specific robots involved, the behaviors that are evolved, the characteristics of the corresponding neural controllers, how these controllers are genetically encoded, and whether or not an individual learning process complements evolution. Related research efforts in evolutionary robotics are occasionally cited. Foreseeable bottlenecks and prospects of improvement are discussed.

An evolutionary approach is used to design neural control architectures for virtual sixlegged animats. Using a geometry-oriented variation of the cellular encoding scheme and syntactic constraints that reduce the size of the genetic search space, the developmental programs of straight locomotion controllers are first evolved. One such controller is then included as the first module in a larger architecture, in which a second neural module is evolved and develops connections to the first one, so as to set locomotion on or offaccording to sustained or instantaneous external control signals. Such an incremental approach should prove useful to the automatic design of relatively complex control architectures that might, in particular, implement some cognitive abilities over and above mere stimulus-response mechanisms.

This paper describes how the SGOCE paradigm has been used to evolve developmental programs capable of generating recurrent neural networks that control the behavior of simulated insects. This paradigm is characterized by an encoding scheme, by an evolutionary algorithm, by syntactic constraints, and by an incremental strategy that are described in turn. The additional use of an insect model equipped with six legs and two antennae made it possible to generate control modules that allowed it to successively add gradient-following and obstacle-avoidance capacities to walking behavior. The advantages of this evolutionary approach, together with directions for future work, are discussed.

This work describes a control architecture based on a hierarchical classifier system. This system, which learns both reactive and planning rules, implements a motivationally autonomous animat that chooses the actions it performs according to its perception of the external environment, to its physiological or internal state, to the consequences of its current behavior, and to the expected consequences of its future behavior. The adaptive faculties of this architecture are illustrated within the context of a navigation task, through various experiments with a simulated and a real robot.

This paper reviews various architectures or working principles that enable animals-i.e. simulated animals or animal-like robots-to display adaptive behaviors and that might be useful within the context of computer animation.>