29 pages, 10 figures.-- Final editor version available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S147355040500220X
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 these 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: first, detection and accounting for shadows caused by 3D jagged edges in the outcrop; second, reincorporation of more sophisticated texture-analysis algorithms into the system; third, creation of hardware and software capabilities to control the camera's zoom lens in an intelligent manner; and fourth, 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 of finding genuinely interesting points in real-time in the geological scenery, and then gathering more information about these interest points in an automated manner.
P. McGuire, J. Ormö and E. Díaz Martínez would all like to thank the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship program in Spain. The work by J. Ormö was partially supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology (AYA2003-01203). The equipment used in this work was purchased by grants to our Center for Astrobiology from its sponsoring research organizations, CSIC and INTA.
Peer reviewed