Automatic tracking shopping cart

An automatic tracking shopping cart, comprising:

• an automatic tracking device fixed to a body of the shopping cart, and operative to control movement of the shopping cart for tracking a target object, the automatic tracking device comprising:
• an image collection unit configured to collect a color image and a depth image of a field of view;
• a processing unit configured to identify the target object based on the collected color image and depth image, and determine a motion parameter of the shopping cart based on a position and/or movement of the target object;
• and
• a shopping cart driving unit configured to drive the shopping cart to move based on the determined motion parameter,
• wherein the processing unit is configured to adjust a collection direction of the image collection unit if the processing unit fails to identify the target object, and the image collection unit re-collects the color image and the depth image.

A method for automatically controlling movement of a shopping cart to track a target object, comprising

• Collecting a color image and a depth image of a field of view;
• identifying the target object based on the collected color image and depth image, and determining a motion parameter of the shopping cart based on a position and/or movement of the target object;
• and
• driving the shopping cart to move based on the determined motion parameter,
• wherein the determining a motion parameter of the shopping cart based on a position and/or movement of the target object comprises:
• determining target characteristics of the target object in the color image and a target depth of the target object in the depth image based on the collected color image and depth image;
• determining a current depth of the target object from a color image and a depth image of a current frame based on target characteristics and a target depth determined in a previous frame;
• and
• determining the movement parameter of the shopping cart based on the calculated current depth.