Robust Vision-Based Astronaut Following for Planetary Exploration

Autor: Jamie Lennon, Timothy Wasserman, Ella M. Atkins
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Zdroj: Infotech@Aerospace.
DOI: 10.2514/6.2005-6977
Popis: Scenarios for manned missions to the Moon or Mars call for astronaut extravehicular teams to be accompanied by autonomous or semi-autonomous rovers. These rovers must be able to safely follow the astronauts over a variety of terrain with minimal assistance. We propose a color-based visual tracking system as a high-speed robust sensory approach for astronaut following and present a quantitative analysis of its accuracy based on a spectrum of known motion profiles. To promote robust operation during exceptional situations, a modal operations paradigm is presented that enables the rover to recover autonomously when possible and with minimal supervision when required. We have outfitted a mobile robot with a camera connected to our color tracking system and characterized its ability to follow the astronaut target over a variety of motion profiles under nominal and exceptional circumstances. Results show the rover is able to autonomously follow and re-acquire the astronaut in most cases and is able to safely stop and request assistance otherwise.
Databáze: OpenAIRE