Autonomous movement-driven place recognition calibration for generic multi-sensor robot platforms

In this paper we present a method for autonomously tuning the threshold between learning and recognizing a place in the world, based on both how the rodent brain is thought to process and calibrate multisensory data and the pivoting movement behaviour that rodents perform in doing so. The approach makes no assumptions about the number and type of sensors, the robot platform, or the environment, relying only on the ability of a robot to perform two revolutions on the spot. In addition, it self-assesses the quality of the tuning process in order to identify situations in which tuning may have failed. We demonstrate the autonomous movement-driven threshold tuning on a Pioneer 3DX robot in eight locations spread over an office environment and a building car park, and then evaluate the mapping capability of the system on journeys through these environments. The system is able to pick a place recognition threshold that enables successful environment mapping in six of the eight locations while also autonomously flagging the tuning failure in the remaining two locations. We discuss how the method, in combination with parallel work on autonomous weighting of individual sensors, moves the parameter dependent RatSLAM system significantly closer to sensor, platform and environment agnostic operation.

Robot navigation in dense crowds : statistical models and experimental studies of human robot cooperation

This thesis explores the problem of mobile robot navigation in dense human crowds. We begin by considering a fundamental impediment to classical motion planning algorithms called the freezing robot problem: once the environment surpasses a certain level of complexity, the planner decides that all forward paths are unsafe, and the robot freezes in place (or performs unnecessary maneuvers) to avoid collisions. Since a feasible path typically exists, this behavior is suboptimal. Existing approaches have focused on reducing predictive uncertainty by employing higher fidelity individual dynamics models or heuristically limiting the individual predictive covariance to prevent overcautious navigation. We demonstrate that both the individual prediction and the individual predictive uncertainty have little to do with this undesirable navigation behavior. Additionally, we provide evidence that dynamic agents are able to navigate in dense crowds by engaging in joint collision avoidance, cooperatively making room to create feasible trajectories. We accordingly develop interacting Gaussian processes, a prediction density that captures cooperative collision avoidance, and a "multiple goal" extension that models the goal driven nature of human decision making. Navigation naturally emerges as a statistic of this distribution.

Most importantly, we empirically validate our models in the Chandler dining hall at Caltech during peak hours, and in the process, carry out the first extensive quantitative study of robot navigation in dense human crowds (collecting data on 488 runs). The multiple goal interacting Gaussian processes algorithm performs comparably with human teleoperators in crowd densities nearing 1 person/m², while a state of the art noncooperative planner exhibits unsafe behavior more than 3 times as often as the multiple goal extension, and twice as often as the basic interacting Gaussian process approach. Furthermore, a reactive planner based on the widely used dynamic window approach proves insufficient for crowd densities above 0.55 people/m². We also show that our noncooperative planner or our reactive planner capture the salient characteristics of nearly any dynamic navigation algorithm. For inclusive validation purposes, we show that either our non-interacting planner or our reactive planner captures the salient characteristics of nearly any existing dynamic navigation algorithm. Based on these experimental results and theoretical observations, we conclude that a cooperation model is critical for safe and efficient robot navigation in dense human crowds.

Finally, we produce a large database of ground truth pedestrian crowd data. We make this ground truth database publicly available for further scientific study of crowd prediction models, learning from demonstration algorithms, and human robot interaction models in general.

Hybrid robot control and SLAM for persistent navigation and mapping

For a mobile robot to operate autonomously in real-world environments, it must have an effective control system and a navigation system capable of providing robust localization, path planning and path execution. In this paper we describe the work investigating synergies between mapping and control systems. We have integrated development of a control system for navigating mobile robots and a robot SLAM system. The control system is hybrid in nature and tightly coupled with the SLAM system; it uses a combination of high and low level deliberative and reactive control processes to perform obstacle avoidance, exploration, global navigation and recharging, and draws upon the map learning and localization capabilities of the SLAM system. The effectiveness of this hybrid, multi-level approach was evaluated in the context of a delivery robot scenario. Over a period of two weeks the robot performed 1143 delivery tasks to 11 different locations with only one delivery failure (from which it recovered), travelled a total distance of more than 40km, and recharged autonomously a total of 23 times. In this paper we describe the combined control and SLAM system and discuss insights gained from its successful application in a real-world context.

Critical literacies in place : teachers who work for just and sustainable communities

This chapter draws upon theories of social justice, critical literacy and place-based pedagogies and two research projects to discuss how teachers are working ethically and creatively towards a sustainable and just society in their place(s).

Collaborative inquiries into literacy, place and identity in changing policy contexts : implications for teacher development

In this chapter we describe a history of collaboration between university-based literacy researchers and school-based teachers in teacher development programs and practitioner inquiries designed to improve literacy outcomes for students living in low-socioeconomic circumstances. We consider how an inquiry stance has informed teachers working for social justice through curriculum and pedagogy designed to connect children’s developing literacy repertoires with their changing material, social and linguistic contexts. We use examples from the practices of two of our long-term teacher-collaborators to show what has been possible to achieve, even in radically different policy contexts, because of teachers’ continued commitment to themes of place and belonging, and language and identity.

The NetWorkPlace(TM) Phenomenon: any time and any place - reality or a seductive myth?

A new spatial logic encompassing redefined concepts of time and place, space and distance, requires a comprehensive shift in the approach to designing workplace environments for today’s adaptive, collaborative organizations operating in a dynamic business world. Together with substantial economic and cultural shifts and an increased emphasis on lifestyle considerations, the advances in information technology have prompted a radical re-ordering of organizational relationships and the associated structures, processes, and places of doing business. Within the duality of space and an augmentation of the traditional notions of place, organizational and institutional structures pose new challenges for the design professions. The literature reveals that there has always been a mono-organizational focus in relation to workplace design strategies and the burgeoning trend towards inter-organizational collaboration, enabled the identification of a gap in the knowledge relative to workplace design. The NetWorkPlaceTM© constitutes a multi-dimensional concept having the capacity to deal with the fluidity and ambiguity characteristic of the network context, as both a topic of research and the way of going about it.

Space, place and power : the spatial turn in literacy research

Place matters to literacy because the meanings of our language and actions are always materially and socially placed in the world (Scollon & Scollon, 2003). We cannot interpret signs, whether an icon, symbol, gesture, word, or action, without taking into account their associations with other meanings and objects in places. This chapter maps an emergent strand of literacy research that foregrounds place and space as constitutive, rather than a backdrop for the real action. Space and place are seen as relational and dynamic, not as fixed and unchanging. Space and place are socially produced, and hence, can be contested, re-imagined and re-made. In bringing space and place into the frame of literacy studies we see a subtle shift – a rebalancing of the semiotic with the materiality of lived, embodied, and situated experience. ...

Determinants of place identity and dependence : the case of international tourism in Tanzania

This research examines the effects of expectation (perceived attractiveness) on satisfaction, place identity, and place dependence. Place identity and place dependence are viewed as relational components of choice and relate to deeper needs. This study proposes that these two relational components depend on transactional expectations, which are emergent and determined by past experiences and visitor goals. In a theoretically elaborated and tested Structural Equation Model (SEM) this study assumes that these relationships vary according to intentions to return. The study addresses the conditions under which loyalty intentions influence the deeper place attachments (place identity and place dependence) that visitors associate with attractive cultural and natural destinations. The model is tested on a sample of 504 international tourists visiting Tanzania during fall 2010, and explains 59% of variance in the predicted dependent variables. The results are linked to a discussion on loyalty programs.

Hybrid place : blurring the edge between the digital and physical layers of urban environments

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the edge condition between the digital layers and the physical layers of the city and how tangible expressions of the interrelationships between them to create and define new experiences of place, creating hybrid place. To date there has been discussion and investigation into understanding the importance of place, similarly into defining hybrid space. This paper explores principles of place and space to question how they can be applied into defining and proposing the notion of hybrid place in urban environments. The integration of media spaces into architecture provide infrastructure for the development of hybrid place. The physical boundaries of urban spaces become blurred through the integration of media such as computer technologies connecting the physical environment with the digital. Literature and case studies that reflect the current trends of use of technology by people in space and place within urban environments are examined.

Literacy, place-based pedagogies and social justice

Our long-term program of research has considered the relationships between teachers’ work and identities, literacy pedagogies and schooling, particularly in high-poverty communities. Over the past decade, we have worked with teachers to consciously explore with them the possible productive synergies between critical literacy and place-based pedagogies, and the affordances of multimodal and digital literacies for students’ engagement with the places where they live and learn. These studies have been undertaken with teachers working and living in various locales—from the urban fringe to inner suburban areas undergoing urban renewal, to rural and regional communities where poverty and the politics of place bring certain distinctive opportunities and constraints to bear on pedagogy for social justice. There is now wider recognition that “social justice” may need rethinking to foreground the nonhuman world and the relation between people and politics of places, people, and environments in terms of “eco-social justice” (Green 2010; Gruenewald 2003b) or spatial justice (Soja 2011). In this chapter, we explore place as a site of knowing and as an object of study as developed through the Special Forever project by teachers in schools located in the Murray-Darling Basin bioregion. Putting the environment at the center of the literacy curriculum inevitably draws teachers into the politics of place and raises questions concerning what is worth preserving and what should be transformed. We consider how the politics of place both constrains and opens up possibilities for pedagogy for eco-social justice and review the pedagogical work that one teacher, Hannah, undertook with her upper primary class.

A place in the sun : the politics of place, identity and branding

There is no doubt that place branding is a powerful and ubiquitous practice deployed around the globe. Parallel to its acceptance and development as a distinct discipline is an understanding that place branding as responsible practice offers the means to achieve widespread economic, social and cultural benefits. Drawing on work around place and identity in cultural geography and cultural studies, this paper engages critically with this vision. Specifically, it challenges the widely-held assumption that the relationship between place branding and place identity is fundamentally reflective, arguing instead that this relationship is inherently generative. This shift in perspective, explored in relation to current responsible place branding practice, is central to the realisation of place branding as a force for good.

Literacy, Place and Pedagogies of Possibility

How can teachers ensure a pedagogy of possibility underpinned by social justice, and what has literacy got to do with this? This book explores the positive synergies between critical literacy and place-conscious pedagogy. Through rich classroom research it introduces and demonstrates how a synthesis of insights from theories of space and place and literacy studies can underpin the design and enactment of culturally inclusive curriculum for diverse student communities, and illustrates how making place and space the objects of study provide productive resources for teachers to design enabling pedagogical practices that extend students' literate repertoires. The argument is that systematic study of and engagement with specific elements of place can enable students' academic learning and literacy.

Revolt and Revolution: the place of Islamism

The outbreak of revolt and revolution in the Middle East has given rise to a re-consideration of threat and security analyses as they pertain to the region and beyond. The resilience of some authoritarian regimes and the rapid collapse of others signal a significant transition within the region to which jihadi Islamist groups form one part of a powerful matrix. This article analyses the part and place of jihadi Islamism and Islamisms more generally in the revolts and revolutions. The article contends that events provide both opportunities and threats in strategies aimed at countering terrorism in the Middle East.

Exploring the micro-politics of place: lifestyle migrants, collective identities and modes of belonging

Taking up Hopkins and Dixon’s (2006) call to attend to the micro-politics of everyday constructions of space and place, which necessarily involves psychological concepts such as identity, belonging and attachment, this paper aims to show how a critical socio-cognitive approach to discourse analysis is an effective means of unpacking the ways in which versions of place are (re)produced and negotiated through discursive practices, and in particular the ways in which ‘legitimate’ collective identities are constructed in relation to place. I focus on the contemporary social phenomenon of lifestyle migration. Within Europe, this typically involves relatively affluent northern Europeans moving to destinations in southern Europe that are strongly linked to tourism. Although lifestyle migrants are generally viewed by their hosts as ‘desirable’ migrants due to their perceived economic and socio-cultural capital, their integration into destination communities is often minimal. The question arises as to how these migrants construct modes of belonging in relation to their adopted home-place and how they relate to the other social groups with whom they share it. Using texts from a variety of sources, including in-depth interviews with British migrants in Portugal, I explore not only how migrants position themselves (and others) discursively in relation to places, but also how they are already positioned by discursive practices in the public sphere. I also examine to what extent the construction of a ‘legitimate’ mode of belonging involves the construction of intergroup cooperation within that place.

Understanding space, place and leisure of women over 85 living in the community

There is an increase in the number of older adults 85 and over, who are choosing to live alone within the community. Moreover, older adults who live alone are reportedly spending an extensive amount of time alone within the home environment. In an effort to provide additional support and resources to older adults living in the community, a compliment of services are being offered through public and private organizations. These in-home supports focus on the instrumental or functional tasks of daily living, such as personal and rehabilitative care, nourishment, maintenance and upkeep of the home, as well as volunteer social visitation. However leisure resources and programs are not included among these services. Consequently, this creates a gap in leisure provision among this segment of the population. Throughout the life course, an individual's identity, role and purpose are developed and sustained through instrumental work roles in the formal and informal sector, as well as through personally meaningful leisure pastimes and experiences. Although roles shift post retirement, participation in instrumental and expressive activities can provide opportunities through which older adults are able to fulfill their need for agency (individuality and autonomy) and affiliation (social relatedness). Therefore barriers that inhibit instrumental or leisure experiences can negatively impact older adults' quality of life. This study explored the leisure lifestyles of four older adults, all of whom were over 85, lived alone within the community and were oriented to person, time and place. It became apparent that participants ordered their lives around a routine that consisted of instrumental, expressive and socially integrated tasks and activities. Moreover participants purposely chose to remain at home because their home environment facilitated freedom, choice and independence. As a result all four participants viewed their independence within the home as a critical determinant to their overall quality of life. Challenges associated with the home environment, participants' personal capacities and relationships were negotiated on a daily basis. Failure to positively adapt to these challenges inhibited meaningful engagement and personal fulfillment. Traditionally, leisure service delivery has been offered within institutions and through various community based venues. As a result leisure provision has been focused on the needs of the frail elderly who reside in institutions or the well elderly who are able to access leisure amenities within the community. However the growing number of older adults electing to live alone is on the rise. As individuals age the home becomes the preferred context for leisure experiences. If older adults are choosing to live alone, then both their instrumental and leisure needs must be addressed. As a result, it is imperative that leisure professionals extend the scope of service delivery to include home centered older adults.