Passive Visual Odometry of Mobile Transport Robots in Production Areas Using Anchor Points

Abstract

The article considers the problem of determining the orientation of mobile transport robots, which are now actively used in almost all areas of industry. They make it possible to intensify production, free personnel from performing routine operations, and exclude the influence of the human factor from work. Based on the analysis of various variants of active orientation methods involving the use of binocular video systems installed on the vehicles themselves, it is proposed to use a passive orientation detection system. It includes a single stationary monocular video system, the replacement of onboard video systems on mobile robots with simple radiation sensors, as well as the use of anchor points in the area of their movement. The order of choice of anchor points in solving the problem of orientation of a mobile transport robot using a monocular video system, in particular for a rectangular interior space, is considered. Calculation formulas for determining the coordinates of the sensor from the pixel coordinates of its image obtained from a monocular video camera are determined. The general sequence of actions for determining the orientation of a mobile robotic platform is also considered. Unlike active systems, this method makes it possible to significantly simplify the hardware, significantly facilitate the analysis of the current position of the mobile robot and thereby reduce the computational complexity of calculations due to the fact that there is no need to use a complex mathematical apparatus. It is being replaced by simpler two-dimensional geometric calculations. This approach, due to the unified management, makes it possible to effectively coordinate the actions of a group of mobile transport robots when they are used together, greatly simplifies the solution of a number of tasks for optimizing the intra-shop movement of mobile vehicles.