The accurate state estimation of unknown bodies in space is a critical challenge with applications ranging from the tracking of space debris to the shape estimation of small bodies. A necessary enabler to this capability is to find and track features on a continuous stream of images. Existing methods, such as SIFT, ORB and AKAZE, achieve real-time but inaccurate pose estimates, whereas modern deep learning methods yield higher quality features at the cost of more demanding computational resources which might not be available on space-qualified hardware. Additionally, both classical and data-driven methods are not robust to the highly opaque self-cast shadows on the object of interest. We show that, as the target body rotates, these shadows may lead to large biases in the resulting pose estimates. For these objects, a bias in the real-time pose estimation algorithm may mislead the spacecraft's state estimator and cause a mission failure, especially if the body undergoes a chaotic tumbling motion. We present COFFEE, the Celestial Occlusion Fast FEature Extractor, a real-time pose estimation framework for asteroids designed to leverage prior information on the sun phase angle given by sun-tracking sensors commonly available onboard spacecraft. By associating salient contours to their projected shadows, a sparse set of features are detected, invariant to the motion of the shadows. A Sparse Neural Network followed by an attention-based Graph Neural Network feature matching model are then jointly trained to provide a set of correspondences between successive frames. The resulting pose estimation pipeline is found to be bias-free, more accurate than classical pose estimation pipelines and an order of magnitude faster than other state-of-the-art deep learning pipelines on synthetic data as well as on renderings of the tumbling asteroid Apophis.

Vision Based Navigation consists in utilizing cameras as precision sensors for GNC after extracting information from images. To enable the adoption of machine learning for space applications, one of obstacles is the demonstration that available training datasets are adequate to validate the algorithms. The objective of the study is to generate datasets of images and metadata suitable for training machine learning algorithms. Two use cases were selected and a robust methodology was developed to validate the datasets including the ground truth. The first use case is in-orbit rendezvous with a man-made object: a mockup of satellite ENVISAT. The second use case is a Lunar landing scenario. Datasets were produced from archival datasets (Chang'e 3), from the laboratory at DLR TRON facility and at Airbus Robotic laboratory, from SurRender software high fidelity image simulator using Model Capture and from Generative Adversarial Networks. The use case definition included the selection of algorithms as benchmark: an AI-based pose estimation algorithm and a dense optical flow algorithm were selected. Eventually it is demonstrated that datasets produced with SurRender and selected laboratory facilities are adequate to train machine learning algorithms.

Robust 3D human pose estimation is crucial to ensure safe and effective human-robot collaboration. Accurate human perception,however, is particularly challenging in these scenarios due to strong occlusions and limited camera viewpoints. Current 3D human pose estimation approaches are rather vulnerable in such conditions. In this work we present a novel approach for robust 3D human pose estimation in the context of human-robot collaboration. Instead of relying on noisy 2D features triangulation, we perform multi-view fusion on 3D skeletons provided by absolute monocular methods. Accurate 3D pose estimation is then obtained via reprojection error optimization, introducing limbs length symmetry constraints. We evaluate our approach on the public dataset Human3.6M and on a novel version Human3.6M-Occluded, derived adding synthetic occlusions on the camera views with the purpose of testing pose estimation algorithms under severe occlusions. We further validate our method on real human-robot collaboration workcells, in which we strongly surpass current 3D human pose estimation methods. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art multi-view human pose estimation techniques and demonstrates superior capabilities in handling challenging scenarios with strong occlusions, representing a reliable and effective solution for real human-robot collaboration setups.

Spine biomechanics is at a transformation with the advent and integration of machine learning and computer vision technologies. These novel techniques facilitate the estimation of 3D body shapes, anthropometrics, and kinematics from as simple as a single-camera image, making them more accessible and practical for a diverse range of applications. This study introduces a framework that merges these methodologies with traditional musculoskeletal modeling, enabling comprehensive analysis of spinal biomechanics during complex activities from a single camera. Additionally, we aim to evaluate their performance and limitations in spine biomechanics applications. The real-world applications explored in this study include assessment in workplace lifting, evaluation of whiplash injuries in car accidents, and biomechanical analysis in professional sports. Our results demonstrate potential and limitations of various algorithms in estimating body shape, kinematics, and conducting in-field biomechanical analyses. In industrial settings, the potential to utilize these new technologies for biomechanical risk assessments offers a pathway for preventive measures against back injuries. In sports activities, the proposed framework provides new opportunities for performance optimization, injury prevention, and rehabilitation. The application in forensic domain further underscores the wide-reaching implications of this technology. While certain limitations were identified, particularly in accuracy of predictions, complex interactions, and external load estimation, this study demonstrates their potential for advancement in spine biomechanics, heralding an optimistic future in both research and practical applications.

The World Robot Summit 2018 Assembly Challenge included four different tasks. The kitting task, which required bin-picking, was the task in which the fewest points were obtained. However, bin-picking is a vital skill that can significantly increase the flexibility of robotic set-ups, and is, therefore, an important research field. In recent years advancements have been made in sensor technology and pose estimation algorithms. These advancements allow for better performance when performing visual pose estimation. This paper shows that by utilizing new vision sensors and pose estimation algorithms pose estimation in bins can be performed successfully. We also implement a workcell for bin picking along with a force based grasping approach to perform the complete bin picking. Our set-up is tested on the World Robot Summit 2018 Assembly Challenge and successfully obtains a higher score compared with all teams at the competition. This demonstrate that current technology can perform bin-picking at a much higher level compared with previous results.

Pose estimation is a pretty fun machine learning problem to work on and with Tensorflow.js anyone can implement their own pose estimation algorithm that works in the browser with just a few lines of code. We'll end the video with me programming a pose estimation algorithm in javascript. That's what keeps me going. Sign up for the next course at The School of AI: https://www.theschool.ai Hit the Join button above to sign up to become a member of my channel for access to exclusive content!