Measuring distances using the 3D optical device for the needs of mobile robotics

Abstract

This paper presents the collision-free operation of a robotic arm mounted on a mobile robotic unit, using the MS Windows Kinect 3D optical system. The 3D optical system is used for measuring distances and aiding the collision-free manipulation of objects by means of the robotic arm installed on the mobile robotic system (MRS). Attaching of the optical system directly to the robotic arm, essentially, ensures the autonomy of the overall system. The MRS is capable of recognizing the pre-defined objects in the three-dimensional space as well as automatically approaching and manipulating them using the robotic arm. The aim of this article is to present the algorithms used in the MRS to guarantee the collision-free operation of the system. The novelty of our approach lies in the a priori collision avoidance strategy instead of solving collision states as they occur. In addition, the article presents the problem of the localization of the objects in the robot’s surrounding. For this purpose, the balls randomly placed on the floor were localized by the MRS, estimating their real coordinates. Instead of using the standard RGB color space, we propose to utilize the HSV color space in order to enhance the process of objects recognition since the HSV color space provides the more consistent results in the case of varying intensity of the ambient light.