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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
InventorsDennis L. Wells, Larry C. Li, Brian J. Cox
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A laser-directed ranging system has utility for use in various fields, such as telerobotics applications and other applications involving physically handicapped individuals. The ranging system includes a single video camera and a directional light source such as a laser mounted on a camera platform, and a remotely positioned operator. In one embodiment, the position of the camera platform is controlled by three servo motors to orient the roll axis, pitch axis and yaw axis of the video cameras, based upon an operator input such as head motion. The laser is offset vertically and horizontally from the camera, and the laser/camera platform is directed by the user to point the laser and the camera toward a target device. The image produced by the video camera is processed to eliminate all background images except for the spot created by the laser. This processing is performed by creating a digital image of the target prior to illumination by the laser, and then eliminating common pixels from the subsequent digital image which includes the laser spot. A reference point is defined at a point in the video frame, which may be located outside of the image area of the camera. The disparity between the digital image of the laser spot and the reference point is calculated for use in a ranging analysis to determine range to the target.
A ranging system for telerobotics applications, comprising:
An apparatus for determining range to a target, comprising:
A method for determining range to a target using a single video camera, comprising the steps of:
A method for remotely controlling a robotic device to manipulate a target device, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.