Robotic exploration under the controlled active vision framework

We present robust techniques for the derivation of depth from feature points on a target surface and for the accurate and high-speed tracking of moving targets. We use these techniques in a system that operates with little or no a priori knowledge of the object-related parameters present in the environment. The system is designed under the controlled active vision framework and robustly determines parameters such as velocity for tracking moving objects and depth maps of objects with unknown depths and surface structure. Such determination of extrinsic environmental parameters is essential for performing higher level tasks such as inspection, exploration, tracking, grasping, and collision-free motion planning. For both applications, we use the Minnesota Robotic Visual Tracker (a visual sensor mounted on the end-effector of a robotic manipulator combined with a real-time vision system) to automatically select feature points on surfaces, to derive an estimate of the environmental parameter in question, and to supply a control vector based upon these estimates to guide the manipulator