Visual detection and tracking with UAVs, following a mobile object. (18th April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mercado-Ravell, Diego A.; Castillo, Pedro; Lozano, Rogelio
• Is Part Of: Advanced robotics. Volume 33:Number 7/8(2019)
• Page Start: 388
• Page End: 402
• Publication Date: 2019-04-18
• Subjects: Aerial vehicles -- object detection and tracking -- vision-based control -- human–robot interaction; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics -- Japan -- Periodicals; Robotics; Japan; Periodicals; 629.89205
• DOI: 10.1080/01691864.2019.1596834
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0169-1864

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Conception and development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) capable of detecting, tracking and following a moving object with unknown dynamics is presented in this work, considering a human face as a case of study. Object detection is accomplished by a Haar cascade classifier. Once an object is detected, it is tracked with the help of a Kalman Filter (KF), and an estimation of the relative position with respect to the target is obtained. A linear controller is used to validate the proposed vision scheme and for regulating the aerial robot's position in order to keep a constant distance with respect to the mobile target, employing as well the extra available information from the embedded sensors. The proposed system was extensively tested in real-time experiments, through different conditions, using a commercial quadcopter connected via wireless to a ground station running under the Robot Operative System (ROS). The proposed overall strategy shows a good performance even under disadvantageous conditions as outdoor flight, being robust against illumination changes, image noise and the presence of other people in the scene. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: