Title: Active Exploration Using Gaussian Random Fields and Gaussian Process Implicit Surfaces,
Abstract: In this work we study the problem of exploring surfaces and building compact
3D representations of the environment surrounding a robot through active
perception. We propose an online probabilistic framework that merges visual and
tactile measurements using Gaussian Random Field and Gaussian Process Implicit
Surfaces. The system investigates incomplete point clouds in order to find a
small set of regions of interest which are then physically explored with a
robotic arm equipped with tactile sensors. We show experimental results
obtained using a PrimeSense camera, a Kinova Jaco2 robotic arm and Optoforce
sensors on different scenarios. We then demonstrate how to use the online
framework for object detection and terrain classification.