Industrial vehicle with feature-based localization and navigation

An industrial vehicle comprising a drive mechanism, a steering mechanism, a vehicle controller, a camera, and a navigation module, wherein:

• the camera is communicatively coupled to the navigation module;
• the vehicle controller is responsive to commands from the navigation module;
• the drive mechanism and the steering mechanism are responsive to commands from the vehicle controller;
• the camera is configured to capture an input image of a ceiling of a warehouse comprising one or more skylights, one or more ceiling lights, one or more active targets, or combinations thereof;
• and
• the navigation module is configured to identify the one or more skylights, the one or more ceiling lights, the one or more active targets, or combinations thereof, by executing machine readable instructions to
• create a Gaussian scale space pyramid from the input image of the ceiling of the warehouse, wherein the Gaussian scale space pyramid comprises a plurality of scale space images,
• calculate a trace of Hessian response for each scale space image of the plurality of scale space images within the Gaussian scale space pyramid,
• build a trace of Hessian response pyramid based on the Gaussian scale space pyramid,
• utilize the trace of Hessian response pyramid to identify one or more candidates comprising one or more skylight candidates, one or more ceiling light candidates, and one or more active target candidates in the input image of the ceiling by generating one or more bounding boxes for each scale space image and thresholding each scale space image in the trace of Hessian response pyramid against a threshold value to utilize each scale space image at or above the threshold value,
• detect one or more light features of varying brightness of the one or more candidates, one or more light features of varying size of the one or more candidates, or combinations thereof,
• subject the one or more candidates to candidate feature processing to identify a valid identification of the one or more candidates as the one or more skylights, the one or more ceiling lights, and the one or more active targets in the warehouse, and
• send commands to the vehicle controller to navigate the industrial vehicle through the warehouse based upon the valid identification.

A method for navigating an industrial vehicle, the method comprising:

• operating the industrial vehicle in a warehouse, the industrial vehicle comprising a drive mechanism, a steering mechanism, a vehicle controller, a camera, and a navigation module, wherein (i) the camera is communicatively coupled to the navigation module, (ii) the vehicle controller is responsive to commands from the navigation module, and (iii) the drive mechanism and the steering mechanism are responsive to commands from the vehicle controller;
• capturing an input image of a ceiling of the warehouse comprising one or more skylights, one or more ceiling lights, one or more active targets, or combinations thereof by the camera;
• creating a Gaussian scale space pyramid from the input image of the ceiling of the warehouse utilizing the navigation module, wherein the Gaussian scale space pyramid comprises a plurality of scale space images;
• calculating a trace of Hessian response for each scale space image of the plurality of scale space images within the Gaussian scale space pyramid;
• building a trace of Hessian response pyramid based on the Gaussian scale space pyramid;
• building a multiscale candidate graph utilizing the trace of Hessian response pyramid;
• utilizing the multiscale candidate graph to identify one or more candidates comprising one or more skylight candidates, one or more ceiling light candidates, one or more active target candidates, or combinations thereof, in the input image of the ceiling using the navigation module;
• subjecting the one or more candidates to candidate feature processing to identify as a valid identification of the one or more candidates as the one or more skylights, the one or more ceiling lights, the one or more active targets, or combinations thereof, in the warehouse using the navigation module;
• and
• send commands from the navigation module to the vehicle controller to navigate the industrial vehicle through the warehouse based upon the valid identification.