Effective calculation method of the minimum distance to dynamic objects

Abstract

A method and system for calculating a minimum distance from a robot to dynamic objects in a robot workspace. The method uses images from one or more three-dimensional cameras, where edges of objects are detected in each image, and the robot and the background are subtracted from the resultant image, leaving only object edge pixels. Depth values are then overlaid on the object edge pixels, and distance calculations are performed only between the edge pixels and control points on the robot arms. Two or more cameras may be used to resolve object occlusion, where each camera's minimum distance is computed independently and the maximum of the cameras' minimum distances is used as the actual result. The use of multiple cameras does not significantly increase computational load, and does require calibration of the cameras with respect to each other.