The objective of this paper is to address the localization problem using omnidirectional images captured by a catadioptric vision system mounted on the robot. For this purpose, we explore the potential of Siamese Neural Networks for modeling indoor environments using panoramic images as the unique source of information. Siamese Neural Networks are characterized by their ability to generate a similarity function between two input data, in this case, between two panoramic images. In this study, Siamese Neural Networks composed of two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are used. The output of each CNN is a descriptor which is used to characterize each image. The dissimilarity of the images is computed by measuring the distance between these descriptors. This fact makes Siamese Neural Networks particularly suitable to perform image retrieval tasks. First, we evaluate an initial task strongly related to localization that consists in detecting whether two images have been captured in the same or in different rooms. Next, we assess Siamese Neural Networks in the context of a global localization problem. The results outperform previous techniques for solving the localization task using the COLD-Freiburg dataset, in a variety of lighting conditions, specially when using images captured in cloudy and night conditions.

When your partner's snoring gets so bad that you have to sleep in separate beds, it may feel like conceding that your marriage's best days are behind you. But a professor has suggested that couples should see the move into different rooms as the exciting'beginning of a new relationship'. In fact, Russell Foster says, ditching the ear plugs in favour of separate bedrooms will improve sleep quality and therefore make couples happier. The professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University told the Hay Festival: 'Ear plugs don't work. So, if it's just snoring, what do you do? 'Well, you sleep in another place.

Google Assistant already knows how to slowly brighten a smart light to simulate the sunrise, as well as how to gradually dim your smart lights at bedtime. The catch, however, was that it was only able to perform the trick with Philips Hue smart lights, but that's changing starting today. Besides the Assistant's improved "Gentle Sleep and Wake" functionality, Google is also rolling out a new pre-made routine designed to ease the strain of your workday. We'll cover the new Workday routine in a moment. First, Google just announced that over the next few days, it will start rolling out an update that allows Google Assistant to slowly brighten or dim all smart lights, not just those from Philips Hue.

They're like dishwashers and microwaves in their utility and virtual invisibility--once you have one, you can't live without it. In recent years, they've all gotten a lot better at suction and navigating our strange house layouts. So how do robot vacs stand out in an increasingly crowded field? The Roborock S6 MaxV aims to explicitly address the most feared robot vacuum urban legend: dog poop. It's horrifying to watch, but many bot vacs will run into a pile of dog poop and merrily spread it all over the house without realizing it. The S6 MaxV uses a stereoscopic dual-camera system and ReactiveAI to recognize pet waste and give it a wide berth in your house.

The robot vacuum now comes with an auto-emptying feature, wherein it attaches to a dock and any dirt or debris is sucked up into a reservoir that houses a large trash bag. This way, users don't have to worry about emptying their Roomba as often and, in turn, it becomes a more hands-free process. These features will come at a price, however. The i7 is priced at $950, making it the company's most expensive model to date. The dock also serves as a charging station for the i7 .

If folding the laundry is a step too far for you, help is at hand. A San Francisco startup has revealed an 850 robo-helper that does it automatically. Dubbed'Your laundry folding friend', FoldiMate uses a conveyor belt, several robotic arms and an adjustable tray that pushes out expertly folded apparel in less than a minute. A San Francisco startup understands most detest this chore and is set to release a device that does it for you – that only cost around 700 to 850. Dubbed'Your laundry folding friend', FoldiMate uses a conveyor belt, several robotic arms and an adjustable tray that pushes out expertly folded apparel in less than a minute Users simply clip their freshly washed garments to the integrated rack located on the outside of FoldiMate.

We introduce a roommate market model, in which 2n people need to be assigned to n rooms, with two people in each room. Each person has a valuation to each room, as well as a valuation to each of other people as a roommate. Each room has a rent shared by the two people living in the room, and we need to decide who live together in which room and how much each should pay. Various solution concepts on stability and envy-freeness are proposed, with their existence studied and the computational complexity of the corresponding search problems analyzed. In particular, we show that maximizing the social welfare is NP-hard, and we give a polynomial time algorithm that achieves at least 2/3 of the maximum social welfare. Finally, we demonstrate a pricing scheme that can achieve envy-freeness for each room.

Researchers can use simulators Figure 1: The Siros client/server architecture of the Konbini to collect data to build and evaluate interaction models at system. the same time as core components of the real-world robot are built and integrated. Once the real robot becomes robust enough, the models trained on simulators can be applied for Clients are in charge of rendering a given view of the virtual further experiments.