Visual perception system and method for a humanoid robot

US8244402B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC · US
• The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration · US

Inventors

• James W. Wells · Rochester Hills, US
• Neil David Mc Kay · Royal Oak, US
• Suhas E. Chelian · Calabasas, US
• Douglas Martin Linn · Cave Springs, US
• Charles W. Wampler, II · Birmingham, US
• Lyndon Bridgwater · Houston, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 22, 2009
• Grant date: Aug 14, 2012
• Expiry date: Nov 10, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06T2207/20081
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A robotic system includes a humanoid robot with robotic joints each moveable using an actuator(s), and a distributed controller for controlling the movement of each of the robotic joints. The controller includes a visual perception module (VPM) for visually identifying and tracking an object in the field of view of the robot under threshold lighting conditions. The VPM includes optical devices for collecting an image of the object, a positional extraction device, and a host machine having an algorithm for processing the image and positional information. The algorithm visually identifies and tracks the object, and automatically adapts an exposure time of the optical devices to prevent feature data loss of the image under the threshold lighting conditions. A method of identifying and tracking the object includes collecting the image, extracting positional information of the object, and automatically adapting the exposure time to thereby prevent feature data loss of the image.