It would be quite useful for a robot operator to simply tell the robot “Follow me” and have it track the operator in a variety of situations and environments. TRACLabs and Brown University are collaborating under an Army contract to create a passive sensing system that facilitates unmanned leader-following in potentially novel, cluttered, and dynamic environments. We call this self-contained system LIBERATION (Leader Informed Beacon Estimation for ReAl-Time, Intelligent, Onboard Navigation).  LIBERATION uses stereo vision (a technique using two cameras and triangulation to determine distance to objects) to build a depth map of the environment. We then use a simple 3D model composed of 8 overlapping spheres—one at each corner of a virtual box—to quickly and easily detect and track arbitrary shaped people in the lab.  The video below shows some preliminary results.

Tags: Brown University, computer vision, stereo vision, STTR, unmanned vehicles, US Army