pianoplayer326
09-25-2007, 02:24 PM
Now, I don't know if that's really the technical term for what I'm looking for or not. But I've looked and looked and really havn't found anything like this and really don't have the expertise to tackle it without a head start of some sort.
I have a robot that follows its target using a cmucam. Its distance sensing ability is limited at medium to long range and doesn't work at all when the target is out of forward view. So ultimately I'm trying to get my robot to follow people, and halt its movement when the person turns around and approaches it. And when the person moves away from the robot, relocate its target person (maybe turning until he or she is back in view) and follow once again. And oh yeah, it's going to be used outdoors in the sunlight so that kindof throws things off too.
It needs to be able to determine how far away the person is with +/-1ft accuracy at 10 feet or so for following, and be able to determine when the target is within 5ft without necessarily a figure on the exact distance. The big thing is that it needs to work even when the target is behind thee robot!
I'm thinking that the person should wear a beacon of some sort that pongs when the robot pings, if you get my drift. The robot could time the length between the sent and recieved signal and find the distance. However, I don't know if this would be accurate enough, nor do I know what kind of circuit I would need. I don't even know what wavelength would be best to use - radio, ultrasonic, etc.
If there is a way to very accurately find the direction of the beacon, that would be even better for me, as I could omit the expensive cmucam from clones I'll be wanting to make. A top-mounted rotating sensor of some sort seems like the only way to do this directionally but looks ungodly complicated to impliment and is aesthetically a little goony looking, lol.
I'll have to use another, normal, proximity sensor so the thing doesn't run over other people that aren't quite blocking line of sight from camera to target.
Anyway you guys sound very knowledgeable so that's why I'm asking! Thanks for any help in advance.
I have a robot that follows its target using a cmucam. Its distance sensing ability is limited at medium to long range and doesn't work at all when the target is out of forward view. So ultimately I'm trying to get my robot to follow people, and halt its movement when the person turns around and approaches it. And when the person moves away from the robot, relocate its target person (maybe turning until he or she is back in view) and follow once again. And oh yeah, it's going to be used outdoors in the sunlight so that kindof throws things off too.
It needs to be able to determine how far away the person is with +/-1ft accuracy at 10 feet or so for following, and be able to determine when the target is within 5ft without necessarily a figure on the exact distance. The big thing is that it needs to work even when the target is behind thee robot!
I'm thinking that the person should wear a beacon of some sort that pongs when the robot pings, if you get my drift. The robot could time the length between the sent and recieved signal and find the distance. However, I don't know if this would be accurate enough, nor do I know what kind of circuit I would need. I don't even know what wavelength would be best to use - radio, ultrasonic, etc.
If there is a way to very accurately find the direction of the beacon, that would be even better for me, as I could omit the expensive cmucam from clones I'll be wanting to make. A top-mounted rotating sensor of some sort seems like the only way to do this directionally but looks ungodly complicated to impliment and is aesthetically a little goony looking, lol.
I'll have to use another, normal, proximity sensor so the thing doesn't run over other people that aren't quite blocking line of sight from camera to target.
Anyway you guys sound very knowledgeable so that's why I'm asking! Thanks for any help in advance.