<title>Camera self orientation and docking maneuver using normal flow</title>

Abstract

In this paper, the possibility of driving egomotion in order to dock with a nonmoving target using information on the first order approximation of the optic flow in the center of the image is presented; specifically it will be shown how a camera mounted on the end-effector of a six degrees of freedom robot arm can be driven toward a planar surface whose position and orientation in space are unknown, avoiding collisions with the target and orienting the camera with its viewing direction perpendicular to the surface. It will be described how it is possible to achieve this task combining the effect of three simple independent processes: braking, fixation, and sideway translation.