Telerobotic tracker

Abstract

A telerobotic system adapted for tracking and handling a moving object comprises a robot manipulator, a video monitor, an image processor, hand controls and a computer. The robot manipulator comprises a movable robotic arm having an effector for handling an object, a drive system for moving the arm in response to arm input signals, sensors for sensing the position of the arm and for generating arm output signals which characterize the dynamic motion behavior of the arm, and a vid=eo camera carried by the arm. The camera responds to motion of the moving object within the field of view of the camera. The video monitor receives an input video signal from the video camera, for displaying an image of the object to a human operator. The image processor is responsive to the output signal of the camera, and is capable of acquiring and pre-processing an image of the object on a frame by frame basis. The hand control is capable of generating a hand control output signal in response to input from a human operator. The computer generates arm input signals and is disposed between the hand control means, the robot manipulator, and image processor. The computer receives (i) output signals from the image processor and (ii) the arm output signals and (iii) the hand control output signal and generates arm input signals in response to the received signals whereby the arm tracks the motion of the object.