Title page for ETD etd-05032012-104351

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Torok, Matthew M.

Author's Email Address

mtorok@vt.edu

URN

etd-05032012-104351

Title

Autonomous Sample Collection Using Image-Based 3D Reconstructions

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Golparvar-Fard, Mani	Committee Co-Chair
Kochersberger, Kevin Bruce	Committee Co-Chair
Sandu, Corina	Committee Member

Keywords

Building Crack Detection
Autonomous Sample Collection
Image-based 3D Reconstruction
Scoops
Robotics

Date of Defense

2012-04-26

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

Sample collection is a common task for mobile robots and there are a variety of manipulators
available to perform this operation. This thesis presents a novel scoop sample collection
system design which is able to both collect and contain a sample using the same hardware.
To ease the operator burden during sampling the scoop system is paired with new
semi-autonomous and fully autonomous collection techniques. These are derived from data
provided by colored 3D point clouds produced via image-based 3D reconstructions. A custom
robotic mobility platform, the Scoopbot, is introduced to perform completely automated
imaging of the sampling area and also to pick up the desired sample. The Scoopbot is wirelessly
controlled by a base station computer which runs software to create and analyze the
3D point cloud models. Relevant sample parameters, such as dimensions and volume, are
calculated from the reconstruction and reported to the operator. During tests of the system
in full (48 images) and fast (6-8 images) modes the Scoopbot was able to identify and
retrieve a sample without any human intervention. Finally, a new building crack detection
algorithm (CDA) is created to use the 3D point cloud outputs from image sets gathered by
a mobile robot. The CDA was shown to successfully identify and color-code several cracks
in a full-scale concrete building element.

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