MOTION TARGET TRACKING OF MOBILE ROBOTS

In the study of mobile robotics, it is essential to be able to perform precise measurements of the rate of changes in motion, directions and accuracy of the robots under study. Therefore, development of a hardware-software system that can track and record the movement of a mobile robot will improve pertaining research activities. This report describes the development of such system using an overhead camera linked to a computer that make track, record and graphically visualize the motion of a mobile robot on a flat surface. Two main methods will be employed, i.e. background subtraction and brightest point. The main hardware and has been tested with basic programs based on the algorithms of the said methods. Two-dimensional coordinate measurement and calibration has been achieved with varying degrees of accuracy depending upon the resolution selected for use on the camera. Both motion tracking methods were done by tracking a bright reference point that was placed on a robot under testing, however approached with different image processing operations. A graphical path, coordinates, speed and total distance travelled will be generated at the end of the program for both motion tracking methods