The United States Government as Represented by the Department of Veterans Affairs

University of Notre Dame Du Lac

Other

Iowa State University Research Foundation Inc.

Yoder Software, Inc.

Steven B Skaar

Michael J Seelinger

Linda Fehr

Guillermo Del Castillo

John-David S Yoder

Richard K Miller

William H Brockman

Matthew L Robinson

Emilio J Gonzalez Galvan

Issac Yalda-Mooshabod

A wheelchair navigation system for a motorized wheelchair includes dual cameras, proximity sensors, microphones, and rotation sensors for the wheels. Small markers are placed on the walls of a location or room. The navigation system uses the proximity sensors, rotation sensors and cameras in conjunction with the specialized software to determine where objects or impediments are located in the room and thereby redirect the path of the wheelchair so as to avoid such objects. The wheelchair is walked through the marked location thereby 'teaching' various paths which are recorded in the computer and recalled later when the wheelchair is in use. The proximity sensor perform sensing operations during performance of the teaching functions for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching functions.

Computer-controlled power wheelchair navigation system

A wheelchair navigation system having motorized wheelchair which is powered by at least one onboard battery, and a battery charger. The navigation system also has a filter-based estimator with interface software running that is operated on an onboard laptop computer. Dual cameras, proximity sensors, microphones, and rotation sensors for the wheels are mounted to the wheelchair. Small markers are placed on the walls of a location or room. The navigation system uses the proximity sensors, rotation sensors and cameras in conjunction with the specialized software to determine where objects or impediments are located in the room and thereby redirect the path of the wheelchair so as to avoid such objects. The wheelchair is walked through the marked location thereby 'teaching' various paths which are recorded in the computer and recalled later when the wheelchair is in use.

A system is presented that creates vision-based, three-dimensional control of a multiple-degree-of-freedom dexterous robot, without special calibration of the vision system, the robot, or any of the constituent parts of the system, and that allows high-level human supervision or direction of the robot. The human operator uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to point and click on an image of the surface of the object with which the robot is to interact. Directed at this surface is the stationary selection camera, which provides the image for the GUI, and at least one other camera. A laser pointer is panned and tilted so as to create, in each participating camera space, targets associated with surface junctures that the user has selected in the selection camera. Camera-space manipulation is used to control the internal degrees of freedom of the robot such that selected points on the robot end member move relative to selected surface points in a way that is consistent with the desired robot operation. As per the requirement of camera-space manipulation, the end member must have features, or &ldquo;cues&rdquo;, with known location relative to the controlled end-member points, that can be located in the images or camera spaces of participant cameras. The system is extended to simultaneously control tool orientation relative to the surface normal and/or relative to user-selected directions tangent to the surface. The system is extended in various ways to allow for additional versatility of application.

Means and method of robot control relative to an arbitrary surface using camera-space manipulation

The invention is a method of using computer vision to control systems consisting of a combination of holonomic and nonholonomic degrees of freedom such as a wheeled rover equipped with a robotic arm, a forklift, and earth-moving equipment such as a backhoe or a front-loader. Using vision sensors mounted on the mobile system and the manipulator, the system establishes a relationship between the internal joint configuration of the holonomic degrees of freedom of the manipulator and the appearance of features on the manipulator in the reference frames of the vision sensors. Then, the system, perhaps with the assistance of an operator, identifies the locations of the target object in the reference frames of the vision sensors. Using this target information, along with the relationship described above, the system determines a suitable trajectory for the nonholonomic degrees of freedom of the base to follow towards the target object. The system also determines a suitable pose or series of poses for the holonomic degrees of freedom of the manipulator. With additional visual samples, the system automatically updates the trajectory and final pose of the manipulator so as to allow for greater precision in the overall final position of the system.

Mobile camera-space manipulation

A nonholonomic camera space manipulation system which allows a mobile manipulator which can have both holonomic and nonholonomic movement to autonomously use computer vision to move with respect to a goal position without any prior knowledge or calibration between the two or more video cameras used with the computer vision and the manipulator base or arm, the cameras and the goal, or the base and arm and the goal position. Cues are associated with the manipulator arm and the goal position(s) or target bodies; the cues being distinguishable in the two dimensional focal plane camera spaces of the cameras from the surrounding environment. A processing unit, identifying the position of the cues in each camera space, compares those positions and instructs movements of the manipulator base and/or manipulator arm to achieve movement of the visual cue on the arm with respect to the goal position or target body visual cue in camera space. These instructions are based upon estimations of what movement is required to bring two visual cues in each camera space together or into the required camera-space configuration. Once movement of the manipulator base and arm has begun, the system tracks this movement and adjusts its estimations and instructions according to monitoring of the visual cues in the camera spaces. By utilizing the different angles of the two or more camera means, the continuous monitoring of the visual cue positions in each camera space leads

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Granger, IN, United States of America

Steven B Skaar