Algorithmic support of the system of external observation and routing of autonomous mobile robots

Abstract

This article presents the algorithmic support of the external monitoring and routing system of autonomous mobile robots. In some cases, the practical usage of mobile robots is related to the solution of navigation problems. In particular, the position of ground robots can be secured using unmanned aerial vehicles. In the proposed approach based on the video image obtained from an external video camera located above the working area of mobile robots, the location of both robots and nearby obstacles is recognized. The optimal route to the target point of the selected robot is built, and changes in its working area are monitored. Information about the allowed routes of the robot is transmitted to third-party applications via network communication channels. Primary image processing from the camera includes distortion correction, contouring and binarization, which allows to separate image fragments containing robots and obstacles from background surfaces and objects. Recognition of robots in a video frame is based on the use of a SURF detector. This technology extracts key points in the video frame and compares them with key points of reference images of robots. Trajectory planning is implemented using Dijkstra’s algorithm. The discreteness of the trajectories obtained using the algorithm for finding a path on the graph can be compensated for on board autonomous mobile robots by using spline approximation. Experimental studies have confirmed the efficiency of the proposed approach both in the problem of recognition and localization of mobile robots and in the problem of planning safe trajectories.

Keywords

• surf detection
• a-star
• udp protocol
• autonomous mobile robots
• routing
• video monitoring