Download - CASC Showcase 2010 05 20
Comprehensive Automationfor Specialty Crops
Showcase
May 20th, 2010
Reconfigurable Mobility
Showcase
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Recent Work
• Creating a useable interface
• New methods for row detection
• New methods for turning and row entry
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Autonomous Vehicle User Interface
• Goal: Create an interface for the vehicle useable by growers and workers without engineer assistance
• Approach: Follow structured, formal human-computer interaction design methodologies– Interview workers to understand farm operations and equipment
– Define requirements that must be satisfied in the final interface product
– Follow a top-down design approach from requirements to functionalities
– Test with the workers on the APM
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Existing Interface
• Here’s what the engineers use
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Existing Interface
• It tells us a lot– Good for testing and debugging
• Hard to use even for us
• Impossible to use without lots of training
• Scary for those without computer backgrounds
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Designing a New Interface
• Start from the beginning
• What does the vehicle have to do?
• Who will be using it?
• What is their current experience/expectation?
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Designers’ Initial Assessment
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Assessment (cont.)
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Initial Interviews
• Designers interviewed owners and workers from four orchards
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Potential Users
• Based on interviews, determined hierarchy of roles in an orchard
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Design Ideas
Focus on things solvable within one semester
and with limited budget
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First Draft
• Designs on paper presented to users– No prior instruction
• Lead users through scenario of vehicle use
• Find out what works
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Task Selection, Farm View
Task icons
were
easy to
understand
But this zoom button
was mistaken for the vehicle
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Vehicle Control
Vehicle’s
progress
is apparent
Users didn’t
even see
this
start/stop
button
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First Interface Prototype
Start button now on vehicle
Travel to end of row,
or stop every n trees Offset left/right
of row center
Task selection in cornerHelp screen
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First Interface Prototype
Zoom to block (shown on left)
Switch language
Speed control (only in end-of-row mode)
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WiFi Communication with Interface
User Interface
Autonomous System
Localization
Navigation
InterfaceRelay
Commands
Commands
Going/Stopped
Going/Stopped
Location:
Which row/block
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User Tests: First Round
• Interface run on laptop, controlling simulated vehicle
• Workers completely unfamiliar with interface– Presented with similar scenarios as before
– Told to use vehicle in a variety of tasks
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First Round Results
• Computer-experienced users felt comfortable
• Others were afraid to give an incorrect command– Autonomous vehicle is an expensive piece of equipment
• Conclusion:– Users need some training, even if it is short
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Final User Tests
• Interface stayed the same
• Went to Hollabaugh Orchards, Biglerville
• Four users operated APM– Owner/manager and three workers
– Two workers understood some English,one understood very little
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Final User Tests
• All were able to control APM– All understood speed, offset, and go/stop mode
– Many mentioned potential applications for which they would like to use the APM
• One common complaint– Need for speed control in stop/go mode
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~casc/public/showcase_video1.wmv
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Final Design
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Help Screen
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Conclusions
• This interface can make APMs easy to use by:– Reducing text on screen
– Presenting vehicle’s location clearly
– Abstracting orchard tasks to single button clicks
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Conclusions
• In order to make performing tasks simpler for workers,additional setup is required by managers
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Recommended Future Work
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Recent Work
• Creating a useable interface
• New methods for row detection
• New methods for turning and row entry
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Previous Row Detection
• Susceptible to spurious data
• Apply some filters to reduce the effect of bad detections
• But we want to have no bad detections
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New Row Detection Work
• Using particle filter to track row over time
• Looks good so far
• Needs more testing
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New Row Entry Work
• Make wider turns– Points vehicle at row sooner
– Easier to detect row
• Smoother turns in tight spaces
• Account for trailer when turning
• Use high accuracy localization (Area 1.2 work) to improve vehicle control
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Back to the Orchards
• May 24: N. Blosi platform testing in Biglerville, PA
• June 7: APM testing in Biglerville
• July 19: APM testing in Washington
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Acknowledgments
• Reed Soergel
• Joy Kline (Bear Mountain)
• Bruce Hollabaugh
Questions?
Augmented Harvesting
Showcase
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Augmented Harvest
• DBR Conveyor Concepts update– Statement of work and contract finalized
– Work initiated
• New bin filler head looks good
• Laying out power unit with integrated exhaust silencing and intake filtering
• Ordering parts for hoses and vacuum chambers
• Bubble pack bin filler– Robin Pritz and Gwendolyn Barr completed first bruise testing
– Method shows promise, but new prototype is required for field testing
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New bubble pack bin filler
Netting and pole backstop
for catching tossed apples
Bubble pack
shields frame
Bubble pack
over rubber
bands
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Bubble pack bin filler close-up
Two rubber bands per wrapped sheet
Sheet is at an angle
Rubber bands and bubble pack
on lower layer are
perpendicular to upper layer
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Configuration used in testing
New bubble pack
3 layers instead of 2
Padded poles
Refrigerators for
apples
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Still Life with Apples
Marked bruises
Notes on test
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http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~casc/public/showcase_video2.mpg
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Results
Experiment Downgraded to Fancy (%)
Downgraded to Utility Grade (%)
Bruise Width(mm)
Direct Dispersed Box Throw 10% 15% 12.1
Dispersed Net Throw 11% 32% 26.0
Random Indirect Throw 10% 30% 25.2
Direct Box Throw 10% 0% 9.6
Total 10% 19% 18.2
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Summary
• Bubble pack bin filler shows promise– Bruising is not bad given distance apples are tossed
• Upcoming improvements– More guiding by net
– Better distribution of bubble pack layers
– Lighter and better padded frame
– Mechanism for raising and lowering frame
• Work with DBR Conveyor Concepts is ramping up
Thank you.