Vision-based remote control of cellular robots

This paper describes the development and design of a vision-based remote controlled cellular robot. Cellular robots have numerous applications in industrial problems where simple inexpensive robots can be used to perform different tasks that involve covering a large working space. As a methodology, the robots are controlled based on the visual input from one or more cameras that monitor the working area. As a result, a robust control of the robot trajectory is achieved without depending on the camera calibration. The remote user simply specifies a target point in the image to indicate the robot final position. We describe the complete system at various levels: the visual information processing, the robot characteristics and the closed loop control system design, including the stability analysis when the camera location is unknown. Results are presented and discussed. In our opinion, such a system may have a wide spectrum of applications in industrial robotics and may also serve as an educational testbed for advanced students in the fields of vision, robotics and control. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.