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The Cyborg Astrobiologist: first field experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2005

Patrick Charles McGuire
Affiliation:
Robotics Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain Transdisciplinary Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain e-mail: mcguire@physik.uni-bielefeld.de
Jens Ormö
Affiliation:
Planetary Geology Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
Enrique Díaz Martínez
Affiliation:
Planetary Geology Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain Dirección de Geología y Geofísica, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Calera 1, Tres Cantos, 28760 Madrid, Spain
José Antonio Rodríguez Manfredi
Affiliation:
Robotics Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
Javier Gómez Elvira
Affiliation:
Robotics Laboratory, Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4.5, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
Helge Ritter
Affiliation:
Neuroinformatics Group, Computer Science Department, Technische Fakultät, University of Bielefeld, PO Box 10 01 31, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Markus Oesker
Affiliation:
Neuroinformatics Group, Computer Science Department, Technische Fakultät, University of Bielefeld, PO Box 10 01 31, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Jörg Ontrup
Affiliation:
Neuroinformatics Group, Computer Science Department, Technische Fakultät, University of Bielefeld, PO Box 10 01 31, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany

Abstract

We present results from the first geological field tests of the ‘Cyborg Astrobiologist’, which is a wearable computer and video camcorder system that we are using to test and train a computer-vision system towards having some of the autonomous decision-making capabilities of a field-geologist and field-astrobiologist. The Cyborg Astrobiologist platform has thus far been used for testing and development of the following algorithms and systems: robotic acquisition of quasi-mosaics of images; real-time image segmentation; and real-time determination of interesting points in the image mosaics. The hardware and software systems function reliably, and the computer-vision algorithms are adequate for the first field tests. In addition to the proof-of-concept aspect of these field tests, the main result of these field tests is the enumeration of those issues that we can improve in the future, including: detection and accounting for shadows caused by three-dimensional jagged edges in the outcrop; reincorporation of more sophisticated texture-analysis algorithms into the system; creation of hardware and software capabilities to control the camera's zoom lens in an intelligent manner; and, finally, development of algorithms for interpretation of complex geological scenery. Nonetheless, despite these technical inadequacies, this Cyborg Astrobiologist system, consisting of a camera-equipped wearable-computer and its computer-vision algorithms, has demonstrated its ability in finding genuinely interesting points in real-time in the geological scenery, and then gathering more information about these interest points in an automated manner.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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