JSPS Science Dialog Program

Kofu Higashi High SchoolJuly 27th, 2011

Quang-Cuong PhamJSPS postdoctoral fellow

Nakamura-Takano LaboratoryDepartment of Mechano-Informatics

University of Tokyo

With the assistance of Mr Satoshi Otsuki

(University of Tokyo)

Outline of the talk

1)My itinerary: from Vietnam to France, to Japan

2)Research in motion planning

a) Some recent applications of robotics

b) What is motion planning ?

c) A little experiment

3)Some cultural aspects

a) Vietnam

b) France

c) My images of Japan

Itinerary:経歴

Research:研究

Motion planning:動作計画

Application:応用

Experiment :実験

Culture:文化

1) My itinerary

Timeline

Elementary school: 小学校 Master's degree: 修士Junior high school: 中学校 Doctoral degree (PhD): 博士課程High school: 高校 Postdoctoral researcher: ポストドクター

研究員

Studies

- At high school: I liked studying science in general, especially mathematics

- University: I graduated from École Normale Supérieure (in Paris), an university that trains professors and researchers in science and literature

- Bachelor degree: I studied mathematics, physics, computer science

- Master's degree in computer science (mostly algorithms)

- PhD: I studied human movements using mathematical methods

Science:科学

Mathematics:数学

Literature:文学

Physics:物理

Computer science:

情報科学

Algorithms:アルゴリズム

Human movements:

人体動作

Research experiences

While at University, I had several research experiences

1) At 3rd year, I spent the summer in a lab studying telecommunication networks

2) At 4th year, I spent a semester in an university in the USA studying biological networks

3) In my Master year, I spent a semester in a lab studying human movements (then I stayed in this lab for PhD)

What I like in research is that I can create new knowledge (and also travel around the world)

Laboratory:研究室

Telecomunication:遠距離通信

Network:ネットワーク

Knowledge:知識

Travel around the world:世界中を回る

My current research

1)Modeling the human body

We use physics, biology, and computer algorithms to model the human body. This can be used to better understand the human body, to diagnose physical malfunction or for sport education

2)Motion planning (topic of my talk today)

To model:モデル化する

Human body:人体

Biology:生物学

Diagnosis:診断

Malfunction:機能不全

Motion planning:動作計画

2) Research in motion planning

Some recent applications

Some videos of recent applications of robotics

1)Humanoid robotshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzHRjP59gs8

2)Robotic surgeryhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZLpWrJGgk

3)Self-driving carhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXeUu_Y6WOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_eVE6KQ4Jg

Applications:応用

Humanoid:ヒト型

Surgery:外科手術

Self-driving car:自動運転

The research behind these applications

Example: some of the research topics behind the self-driving car:

1)Image analysis: are there any obstacles ? what are the obstacles ? (pedestrians, other cars, wall,...)

2)Localization: where am I ? where are the obstacles ?

3)Motion planning: how to reach the goal without hitting obstacles ?

Image analysis:画像解析

Pedestrians:通行人

Obstacles:障害物

Localization:自己位置同定

Image analysis

The car must be able to detect automatically, from its cameras and other sensors (laser)

1)pedestrians

2)other cars

3)road borders

4)road signs, traffic lights

Image analysis:画像解析

Detect:検出する

Automatic:自動

Pedestrians:通行人

Road borders:車線

Road signs:道路標識

Trafic lights:信号

Localization

The car must be able to localize itself with respect to the obstacles (pedestrians, other cars, road borders,...) and in space, using for example

1)Image analysis (3D vision)

2)Integration of speed, acceleration data

3)GPS (Global Positioning System)

4)Combination of all these data

Localization:自己位置同定

Integration:積分

Speed:速さ

Acceleration:加速度

Combination:組み合わせ

Motion planning

The piano mover problem: how to move the piano from the starting position to the goal without touching the obstacles ?

Starting position:スタート地点

Goal: ゴール

Obstacles:障害物

Algorithm to solve this problem

Step 1: select some points randomly in the free space

Select:選択する

Randomly:無作為に

Free space:自由空間

Algorithm (2)

Step 2: join two points if one can go from one point to the other without touching the obstacles

This creates a graph

Join:つなぐ

Graph:グラフ

Algorithm (3)

Step 3: find a path in the graph Path:軌道

More difficult: the car

Why the green path is not possible for the car ?

Because the car cannot move sidewaysThis is known as a nonholonomic constraint

The car (2)

The blue path is possible for the car : it respects the nonholonomic constraints

But finding the blue path is much more difficult than finding the green path !

Yet more difficult: the bevel needle

The bevel needle is used in robotic surgery

We can use two actions to drive the needle:

1) Push the needle: the needle makes a circle in space

2) Turn the needle around its axis

Bevel needle:注射針

Robotic surgery:ロボット手術

Push:押す

Circle:円

Turn:回す

Experiment

How to drive the bevel needle from one position (the insertion point) to another position (where surgery is needed) while avoiding obstacles (arteries, organs,...) ?

The bevel needle is also a nonholonomic system

Let's do an experiment using MATLAB

Insertion:挿入

Artery:動脈

Organ:臓器

Conclusion

Behind the impressive applications we have seen at the beginning, there are many interesting and challenging research problems.

To solve these problems, one needs mathematics and algorithmics.

Impressive:素晴らしい

Challenging:挑戦的

Mathematics:数学

Algorithmics:アルゴリズム

3) Some cultural aspects

Vietnam (famous cities)

Vietnam: 87 millions of inhabitants, 330.000km2 Language: vietnamese

1) Hanoi: capital city, and my hometown (6 millions people)

2) Halong: beautiful bay

3) Huê: ancient capital city

4) Ho Chi Minh city: most populous city in Vietnam (7 millions people)

Capital city:首都

Bay:湾

Vietnam (some typical dishes)

1) Phở (フォー ): rice noodle soup (often with beef). From the North of Vietnam

2) Nem: fried springroll (with ground meat, mushroom, carrot, rolled in rice paper and then fried)

3) Canh chua: light sour soup made with fish, pineapple, tamarind,... From the South

Soup:スープ

Fried:フライド

Sour:酸っぱい

France

1) Eating well is very important for the French people. Usually, people spend >1h at lunch, then have coffee, discuss about social and political questions,... before going back to work

2) Typical specialities: wine, cheese, sausage, foie gras, etc. Each region has its own speciality.

3) Legal working duration in France is 35 hours/week, and usually people don't do overwork. Also, people take all the vacations they have (5 weeks/year + many national holidays)

4) The French people are also very proud of their culture: literature (the most Nobel prizes in literature; each year in November, there are more than 700 new novels), museums (Le Louvre, Musée d'Orsay,...), architecture, etc.

Overwork:残業

My images of Japan

When I was at elementary school in Vietnam

My images of Japan (2)

Then, at junior high school and high school in France

My images of Japan (3)

Later, at University

My images of Japan (4)

Now I have the opportunity to taste authentic Japanese food, drink sake, learn about Japanese culture, visit the places I have seen in films or read of in novels,... and meet and discuss with Japanese people !

Authentic:本物の

Thank you for your attention!

Let's now discuss more interactively

Don't hesitate to ask questions

You can reach me by email: cuong.pham@normalesup.org

My website: http://www.normalesup.org/~pham/

Interactive:対話