On-board and Ground Visual Pose Estimation Techniques for UAV Control

In this paper, two techniques to control UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), based on visual information are presented. The first one is based on the detection and tracking of planar structures from an on-board camera, while the second one is based on the detection and 3D reconstruction of the position of the UAV based on an external camera system. Both strategies are tested with a VTOL (Vertical take-off and landing) UAV, and results show good behavior of the visual systems (precision in the estimation and frame rate) when estimating the helicopter¿s position and using the extracted information to control the UAV

Epipole-based visual servoing for mobile robots

This paper proposes a visual servoing algorithm for mobile robot navigation based on the epipolar geometry retrieved by object profiles. The main motivation for this approach is that for unstructured scenes the task of solving correspondences is definitely a harder task than contour detection. An unstructured three-dimensional (3-D) scene consists mainly of objects whose most important 2-D features are their apparent contours in the image plane. Apparent contours are used to estimate the positions of the epipoles and some special symmetry conditions whereby the visual servoing is able to steer the mobile robot to the desired position. © VSP and Robotics Society of Japan 2006.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Tree organization method for structuring cluster space-based rover formations with applications to multi-object transportation

Inthiswork,conceptsofclusterspaceapproachareextended through a novel formulation, namely Tree Organization Method (TOM), to systematically arrange formations of mobile robots. TOM consists in analyzing the n-robot cluster as an open kinematic chain with multiple branches, where robots remain linked as they move according to this virtual mechanism, by ensuring the specified formation?s geometry dur- ing all the navigation time. TOM allows to easily generate synchronized reference trajectories for all robots involved in the formation, and this formulation is applied to the particular case of an arranged 7-robot clus- ter tasked to transport 3 spheres along a predefined trajectory. This sce- nario is recreated in a realistic cooperative simulation interfacing MSC ADAMS and MATLAB, where multi-body dynamic modeling, cluster specification under TOM and robust tracking controllers are developed for this multi-robot application.Fil: Baquero Suárez, Mauro Alonso. Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mas, Ignacio Agustin. Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; ArgentinaFil: Giribet, Juan Ignacio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Electronica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; ArgentinaInternational Symposium on Multibody Systems and MechatronicsCórdobaArgentinaInternational Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine ScienceUniversidad tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Córdob