scholarly journals Reliable Real-Time Ball Tracking for Robot Table Tennis

Robotics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Gomez-Gonzalez ◽  
Yassine Nemmour ◽  
Bernhard Schölkopf ◽  
Jan Peters

Robot table tennis systems require a vision system that can track the ball position with low latency and high sampling rate. Altering the ball to simplify the tracking using, for instance, infrared coating changes the physics of the ball trajectory. As a result, table tennis systems use custom tracking systems to track the ball based on heuristic algorithms respecting the real-time constrains applied to RGB images captured with a set of cameras. However, these heuristic algorithms often report erroneous ball positions, and the table tennis policies typically need to incorporate additional heuristics to detect and possibly correct outliers. In this paper, we propose a vision system for object detection and tracking that focuses on reliability while providing real-time performance. Our assumption is that by using multiple cameras, we can find and discard the errors obtained in the object detection phase by checking for consistency with the positions reported by other cameras. We provide an open source implementation of the proposed tracking system to simplify future research in robot table tennis or related tracking applications with strong real-time requirements. We evaluate the proposed system thoroughly in simulation and in the real system, outperforming previous work. Furthermore, we show that the accuracy and robustness of the proposed system increases as more cameras are added. Finally, we evaluate the table tennis playing performance of an existing method in the real robot using the proposed vision system. We measure a slight increase in performance compared to a previous vision system even after removing all the heuristics previously present to filter out erroneous ball observations.

J ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
Paula Morella ◽  
María Pilar Lambán ◽  
Jesús Antonio Royo ◽  
Juan Carlos Sánchez

Among the new trends in technology that have emerged through the Industry 4.0, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things (IoT) are crucial for the real-time data acquisition. This data acquisition, together with its transformation in valuable information, are indispensable for the development of real-time indicators. Moreover, real-time indicators provide companies with a competitive advantage over the competition since they enhance the calculus and speed up the decision-making and failure detection. Our research highlights the advantages of real-time data acquisition for supply chains, developing indicators that would be impossible to achieve with traditional systems, improving the accuracy of the existing ones and enhancing the real-time decision-making. Moreover, it brings out the importance of integrating technologies 4.0 in industry, in this case, CPS and IoT, and establishes the main points for a future research agenda of this topic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 496-500 ◽  
pp. 1289-1292
Author(s):  
De Huan Tang ◽  
De Yang Luo

This paper designed a special welding machine for an aluminum cone bottom workpiece. This machine contains highly accurate positioner system, laser tracking system, and robotic welding devices. It is used to weld the transverse seams and the longitudinal seams of the workpiece. The interaction of welding robot with positioner and the real-time seam correcting can ensure high quality of welding.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4401
Author(s):  
Gen Zheng ◽  
Jianhu Zhao ◽  
Shaobo Li ◽  
Jie Feng

With the increasing number of underwater pipeline investigation activities, the research on automatic pipeline detection is of great significance. At this stage, object detection algorithms based on Deep Learning (DL) are widely used due to their abilities to deal with various complex scenarios. However, DL algorithms require massive representative samples, which are difficult to obtain for pipeline detection with sub-bottom profiler (SBP) data. In this paper, a zero-shot pipeline detection method is proposed. First, an efficient sample synthesis method based on SBP imaging principles is proposed to generate samples. Then, the generated samples are used to train the YOLOv5s network and a pipeline detection strategy is developed to meet the real-time requirements. Finally, the trained model is tested with the measured data. In the experiment, the trained model achieved a [email protected] of 0.962, and the mean deviation of the predicted pipeline position is 0.23 pixels with a standard deviation of 1.94 pixels in the horizontal direction and 0.34 pixels with a standard deviation of 2.69 pixels in the vertical direction. In addition, the object detection speed also met the real-time requirements. The above results show that the proposed method has the potential to completely replace the manual interpretation and has very high application value.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4708
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Guo ◽  
Zhoubo Wang ◽  
Wei Zhou ◽  
Zhenhai Zhang

This paper summarized the research status, imaging model, systems calibration, distortion correction, and panoramic expansion of panoramic vision systems, pointed out the existing problems and put forward the prospect of future research. According to the research status of panoramic vision systems, a panoramic vision system with single viewpoint of refraction and reflection is designed. The systems had the characteristics of fast acquisition, low manufacturing cost, fixed single-view imaging, integrated imaging, and automatic switching depth of field. Based on these systems, an improved nonlinear optimization polynomial fitting method is proposed to calibrate the monocular HOVS, and the binocular HOVS is calibrated with the Aruco label. This method not only improves the robustness of the calibration results, but also simplifies the calibration process. Finally, a real-time method of panoramic map of multi-function vehicle based on vcam is proposed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 501-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Garibaldi ◽  
Stefania Russo ◽  
Delia Ciardo ◽  
Stefania Comi ◽  
Matteo Seregni ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Johnson ◽  
Martin Hayes

AbstractThis paper considers the design, construction and validation of a low-cost experimental robotic testbed, which allows for the localisation and tracking of multiple robotic agents in real time. The testbed system is suitable for research and education in a range of different mobile robotic applications, for validating theoretical as well as practical research work in the field of digital control, mobile robotics, graphical programming and video tracking systems. It provides a reconfigurable floor space for mobile robotic agents to operate within, while tracking the position of multiple agents in real-time using the overhead vision system. The overall system provides a highly cost-effective solution to the topical problem of providing students with practical robotics experience within severe budget constraints. Several problems encountered in the design and development of the mobile robotic testbed and associated tracking system, such as radial lens distortion and the selection of robot identifier templates are clearly addressed. The testbed performance is quantified and several experiments involving LEGO Mindstorm NXT and Merlin System MiaBot robots are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document