Tag: quick response codes

QR codes simplify robot navigation

| December 6, 2013

Communicating commands to a robot, particularly in terms of new locations, is now easier with quick response codes.

Being able to instruct a robot in terms of where it should navigate, especially when it comes to new locations, has been a considerable struggle that has previously needed complex technologies, but that could be resolved with something as simple as QR codes.

Previously it was believed to require sophisticated machine vision, and tech such as Bayesian particle filters.

However, recently, this planning was constructed in a very different way, using QR codes to help to guide robot navigation issues of localization. The issue is in the concept that if a robot were to bring you a glass of water or a soda, then that machine would first need to know where it is located and where the drink can be found. Therefore, the robot would essentially require a map and would need to be able to recognize its own location on that map at any given moment.

QR codes are allowing some of the issues within that process to be sidestepped.

QR Codes - Robot NavigationAfter all, to truly become practical, the robot would also need to be able to create its own maps be “observing” its surroundings and still be able to understand where it is located on the maps that it has constructed on its own. This has been labeled the SLAM problem, which stands for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping.

The inability to overcome this problem has limited robots to being able to navigate only around a constructed environment where they are programmed for very specific tasks. However, by coming up with a way to give these machines the opportunity to properly gauge and interact with their environments – and their own position within it – then this could present far greater opportunities for their use. Previous methods have involved using advanced technology to be able to label an environment with markers such as RF beacons. However, more recently, a much simpler marker has been employed.

This marker involves simple scanning of QR codes – often called by the nickname of “robot vomit”. These quick response codes are often seen in advertising and product labels, but by sticking them on the features of a space, including doors and walls, it can help robots to better understand their own environments and how to function within them.

QR codes on stamps digitally enhance snail mail

| December 2, 2013

These quick response codes allow senders to attach video content to their letters and parcels.

Hrvatska Pošta, the Croatian mail system has already been using QR codes on stamps in order to allow the postal service in the country to be able to track the location of the mail that it is responsible for sending.

Now, Australia Post has also added these barcodes to its services, but in an entirely new way.

Where Hrvatska Pošta is using QR codes for internal functions that help them to better serve their customers, Australia Post is providing mail senders with an entirely new service. With these barcodes, customers in Australia can link them to video messages that they have recorded and then send them as stamps on physical envelopes that can be scanned by the recipient and viewed on their smartphones or tablets.

These postage stamps with QR codes are special editions and each have their own unique barcodes.

QR Codes on Snail MailThe quick response codes are printed on the envelopes for free for customers that are sending their mail through the Express Post or Express Courier International Service from the postal service. The service comes with an instruction card that signals to the recipient that this is more than just a standard barcode. It encourages them to download the Video Stamp app, for free, from the Apple App Store and from Google Play.

Those cards are attached to the packages and letters and can be peeled off by the recipient so that the directions can be followed. From the time that the letter is sent, the sender has 12 hours in which to record their video message so that it will be possible for the recipient to view the message upon receipt.

This unique use of the QR codes gives Australia Post the opportunity to bring their traditional type of shipping into the present by linking physical mail with the digital environment. This service has been released just in time for Christmas – the busiest time of the mail sending year – allowing consumers to be able to send their video messages to recipients along with cards and gifts.