THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A REAL-TIME 3-D DYNAMIC ROBOT VISION SYSTEM FOR USE STS ASSEMBLY, CONSTRUCTION, AND ROUTINE MAINTENANCE.

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A REAL-TIME 3-D DYNAMIC ROBOT VISION SYSTEM FOR USE STS ASSEMBLY, CONSTRUCTION, AND ROUTINE MAINTENANCE. THE BASIC TECHNIQUE PROPOSED FOR STUDY USES THE "FLOW-FIELD" INFORMATION IMPLICIT IN ALL IMAGED SCENES INVOLVING RELATIVE MOTION BETWEEN IMAGING SENSOR AND VIEWED OBJECTS, AND USES IT TO GENERATE A DYNAMICESTIMATE OF NOT ONLY THE RELATIVE MOTION PARAMETERS (BETWEEN IMAGER AND OBJECTS), BUT ALSO THE RELATIVE RANGE AND DEPTH TO ALL VIEWED SURFACE POINTS DEFINING THE OBJECTS.THIS "DEPTH MAP" IS THEN USED TO DIRECTLY DEFINE 3-D OBJECT SHAPES, FOR DOWNSTREAM USE BY A 3-D OBJECT RECOGNITION ALGORITHM. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE OVERALL FEASIBILITY VIA THREE TASKS. WE WILL: 1) DEFINE A PRELIMINARY DESIGN TO IDENTIFY BASIC FEASIBILITY ISSUES; 2) DEVELOP AND EXERCISE COMPONENT ALGORITHMS NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE SEVERAL COMPONENT BLOCKS OF THE DESIGN; AND 3) EVALUATE OVERALL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, AND, ON THIS BASIS, DEFINE SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR FOLLOW-ON PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT. A FINAL REPORT WILL SUMMARIZE THE STUDY'S OBJECTIVES, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTHER WORK.