Person Following Using Histograms of Oriented Gradients

• US 20110026770A1
• Filed: 08/02/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Brookshire, Jonathan David
• Application Number:
  US12/848,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20110026770A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0251 extracting 3D information from a plurality of images taken from different locations, e.g. stereo vision stereoscopic image analysis H04N13/00; depth recovery from images G06T7/593
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads

Abstract

A method for using a remote vehicle having a stereo vision camera to detect, track, and follow a person, the method comprising: detecting a person using a video stream from the stereo vision camera and histogram of oriented gradient descriptors; estimating a distance from the remote vehicle to the person using depth data from the stereo vision camera; tracking a path of the person and estimating a heading of the person; and navigating the remote vehicle to an appropriate location relative to the person.

Claims

17-1. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking a path of the person comprises using a single target tracker configured to filter clutter and smooth detection data when the person is not detected

24. A remote vehicle configured to detect, track, and follow a person, the remote vehicle comprising:

a chassis including one or more of wheels and tracks;

a three degree-of-freedom neck attached to the chassis and extending generally upwardly therefrom;

a head mounted on the chassis, the head comprising a stereo vision camera and an inertial measurement unit; and

a computational payload comprising a computer and being connected to the stereo vision camera and the inertial measurement unit,

wherein the neck is configured to pan independently of the chassis to keep the person in a center of a field of view of the stereo vision camera while placing fewer requirements on the motion of the chassis, and

wherein the inertial measurement unit provides angular rate information so that, as the head moves via motion of the neck, chassis, or slippage, readings from the inertial measurement unit allow the computational payload to update the person'"'"'s location relative to the remote vehicle.

25. The remote vehicle of claim 24, wherein the head further comprises LIDAR connected to the computational payload, range data from the LIDAR being used for comparing the estimated track position of a detected person with a ground truth position.