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A Cooperative Aerial Robotic Approach for Tracking and Estimating the 3D Position of a Moving Object by Using Pseudo-Stereo Vision

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Abstract

This work presents a system that allows a team of aerial robots to follow a dynamic object moving in three dimensions. The system is composed of two Quadcopters equipped each one with an onboard monocular camera. A control system is proposed whose main objective is to maintain a stable flight formation of the Quadcopters with respect to the moving object. During the flight trajectory of both robots, its yaw, as well as the pitch of the cameras, are controlled in order to perform the visual tracking of the moving object. In this case, a pseudo-stereo visual system is formed from the cooperation between the two robots. The relative position of the moving object, which is in turn necessary for controlling the flight formation, is determined by triangulation by mean of the pseudo-stereo visual system. A Kalman Filter is used for estimating the states of both Quadcopters and the moving object. The stability of the control laws is proved using Lyapunov theory, and the performance of the system is validated by computer simulations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, CUCEI, University of Guadalajara, Blvd. Marcelino García Barragán 1421, C.P. 44430, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

    J. C. Trujillo, R. Munguía & E. Ruiz-Velázquez

  2. Center for Research and Graduate Studies (CINVESTAV), Campus Guadalajara, Av. del Bosque 1145, Col. El Bajo, ZC 45019, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

    B. Castillo-Toledo

Authors
  1. J. C. Trujillo
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  2. R. Munguía
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  3. E. Ruiz-Velázquez
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  4. B. Castillo-Toledo
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Correspondence to R. Munguía.

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Trujillo, J.C., Munguía, R., Ruiz-Velázquez, E. et al. A Cooperative Aerial Robotic Approach for Tracking and Estimating the 3D Position of a Moving Object by Using Pseudo-Stereo Vision. J Intell Robot Syst 96, 297–313 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-019-00981-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-019-00981-8

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