Controlling a robot in the presence of a moving object
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsHarshavardhana Kikkeri, Bryan J. Thibodeau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method, system, and one or more computer-readable storage media for controlling a robot in the presence of a moving object are provided herein. The method includes capturing a number of frames from a three-dimensional camera system and analyzing a frame to identify a connected object. The frame is compared to a previous frame to identify a moving connected object (MCO). If an unexpected MCO is in the frame a determination is made if the unexpected MCO is in an actionable region. If so, the robot is instructed to take an action.
Claims18
A method, performed by a processor, for controlling a robot in the presence of a moving object, comprising:
- analyzing a frame captured by a three-dimensional camera to identify a connected object comprising substantially proximate voxels;
- determining motion vectors for the substantially proximate voxels based at least in part on the frame and a previous frame captured by the three-dimensional camera;
- identifying a moving connected object (MCO) comprising the substantially proximate voxels, based at least in part on whether the motion vectors for the substantially proximate voxels are consistent;
- determining if the MCO is an unexpected MCO based at least in part on an expected motion of the robot;
- and
- instructing the robot to perform an action in response to determining the MCO is unexpected.
A system for controlling a robot in a presence of a moving object, comprising:
- a three dimensional camera;
- a processor;
- and
- a system memory comprising code that, based at least in part on execution by the processor, is configured to:
- analyze a frame captured by a three-dimensional camera to identify an object in relative motion to the robot;
- determine motion vectors for voxels representing the object based at least in part on the frame and a previous frame captured by the three-dimensional camera;
- group proximate voxels having consistent motion vectors;
- determine if the object is unexpected based at least in part on an evaluation of expected relative motion of the robot and the grouped proximate voxels;
- and
- instruct the robot to take an action if the object is determined to be unexpected.
One or more computer-readable storage media for storing computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions providing a system for controlling a robot in a presence of a moving object, the computer-readable instructions, based at least in part on execution by a processor, being configured to:
- capture a plurality of frames from a three-dimensional camera system;
- analyze one of the frames to identify a plurality of connected objects, each of the connected objects comprising substantially proximate voxels;
- compare a location of each of the connected objects in the one frame to a location of each of the connected objects in a previous frame of the frames to determine motion vectors for the substantially proximate voxels;
- compare the one frame to the previous frame to identify a moving connected object (MCO) comprising the substantially proximate voxels, wherein the motion vectors for the substantially proximate voxels are consistent;
- determine if the MCO is an unexpected MCO based at least in part on an expected motion of the robot;
- and
- instruct the robot to take an action.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.