Target tracking, approach, and camera handoff for automated instrument placement

This paper describes the target designation, tracking, approach, and camera handoff technologies required to achieve accurate, single-command autonomous instrument placement for a planetary rover. It focuses on robust tracking integrated with obstacle avoidance during the approach phase, and image-based camera handoff to allow vision-based instrument placement. It also provides initial results from a complete system combining these technologies with rover base placement to maximize arm manipulability and image-based instrument placement.

[1]  J.-Y. Bouguet,et al.  Pyramidal implementation of the lucas kanade feature tracker , 1999 .

[2]  Chris Urmson,et al.  A generic framework for robotic navigation , 2003, 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.03TH8652).

[3]  Carlo Tomasi,et al.  Good features to track , 1994, 1994 Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[4]  William Whittaker,et al.  Experience with rover navigation for lunar-like terrains , 1995, Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots.

[5]  Mark W. Powell,et al.  The science activity planner for the mars exploration rover mission: fido field test results , 2003, 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.03TH8652).

[6]  Mark W. Maimone,et al.  Autonomous vision-based manipulation from a rover platform , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation. CIRA'99 (Cat. No.99EX375).

[7]  P. Backes,et al.  Automated rover positioning and instrument placement , 2005, 2005 IEEE Aerospace Conference.

[8]  Takeo Kanade,et al.  An Iterative Image Registration Technique with an Application to Stereo Vision , 1981, IJCAI.

[9]  Randy Sargent,et al.  Terrain model registration for single cycle instrument placement , 2003, Proceedings 2003 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003) (Cat. No.03CH37453).

[10]  M. Deans,et al.  Visual target tracking for rover-based planetary exploration , 2004, 2004 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.04TH8720).

[11]  W.S. Kim,et al.  Rover mast calibration, exact camera pointing, and camera handoff for visual target tracking , 2005, ICAR '05. Proceedings., 12th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, 2005..

[12]  Edward Tunstel,et al.  Rover autonomy for long range navigation and science data acquisition on planetary surfaces , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[13]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[14]  David E. Smith,et al.  Integrated Demonstration of Instrument Placement , Robust Execution and Contingent Planning , 2003 .

[15]  Maria Bualat,et al.  Initial results from vision-based control of the Ames Marsokhod rover , 1997, Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and Systems. Innovative Robotics for Real-World Applications. IROS '97.

[16]  John B. Shoven,et al.  I , Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.