Light Monocular Camera-based Obstacle Detection and Avoidance Algorithm for Small drone Flying in an unknown Maze

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

We consider the problem of a drone (quadcopter) that needs to detect and avoid an obstacle when autonomously flying in an unknown maze of walls and obstacles. The detector performs two tasks: • Detect that the drone is close to colliding with an object if the drone continues flying in its current direction. • Once a close object has been detected the drone will start turning and the detector should signal when to stop this turn as an obstacle-free direction has been detected. This camera-based detector must be of low complexity as it is intended to be used by low-weight/battery drones whose controllers (such as the Raspberry PI0) can not support heavy computations. This ability is a fundamental problem in the area of drones (even in general robotics). In this work, we propose such a camera-based detector whose complexity improves upon previously proposed techniques. In previous works, key points are extracted, and based on their relative position-disparity in two consecutive frames, either true distances or the shape of a close object are computed. Rather than compute distances or the shape of a close object we use the horizontal disparity (roll angle 0) just to compute the probability that there is a close object in front of the drone. This reduces the overall complexity significantly, yet our experiments in flight simulation mode show a high detection ratio.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEurope ISR 2023 - International Symposium on Robotics, Proceedings
PublisherVDE Verlag GmbH
Pages189-196
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9783800761418
StatePublished - 2023
Event56th International Symposium on Robotics, ISR Europe 2023 - Stuttgart, Germany
Duration: 26 Sep 202327 Sep 2023

Publication series

NameEurope ISR 2023 - International Symposium on Robotics, Proceedings

Conference

Conference56th International Symposium on Robotics, ISR Europe 2023
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityStuttgart
Period26/09/2327/09/23

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© VDE VERLAG GMBH Berlin Offenbach.

Keywords

  • Kalman filter
  • Key points detectors
  • Monocular vision
  • Obstacle Detection
  • Small drones

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Software

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