CLOSED LOOP VISION GUIDED ROBOT

PHASE I WILL ADDRESS ISSUES IN HIGH-ACCURACY, CLOSED-LOOP VISION GUIDED ROBOT MOTION. IT IS PROPOSED TO USE IMAGE FEATURES WHICH CHANGE WITH THE POSITION OF A ROBOT MOUNTED CAMERA. THE VALUES OF THESE FEATURES COMBINED WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE FEATURE JACOBIAN IN ROBOT CO-ORDINATES WILL BE USED TO CORRECT MANIPULATOR POSITION ALONG A TRAJECTORY. THE MAJOR PHASE I TASK IS TO ANALYTICALLY DETERMINE THE JACOBIAN OF A SET OF FEATURES FOR AN ACTUAL MANIPULATOR AND CREATE A COMPUTER SIMULATION TO PROVE FEASIBILITY. ADDITIONAL TASKS INCLUDE DETERMINATION OF OPTICAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR A HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION AS WELL AS INITIAL DESIGN FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE SIMULATION MODEL TO INCLUDE ARM DYNAMICS.