Development of Human-Tracking Robot by Using QR Code Recognition

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a human-tracking robot that can be used in some commercial establishments, such as airports and factories. Human-tracking process involves four main steps. The first step involves robust personal identification by using QR code recognition. It is the most important step in human tracking. The second step is location detection by shape-based pattern matching in order to determine the position of the QR code when the human being tracked moves far from the robot. The third step involves auxiliary re-detection by using IR cameras and retroreflectors in case that local detection is difficult in the second step. The fourth step is robot control to maintain the correct distance for human tracking. In a measurement experiment for rate of QR code recognition, it was shown that the rate of QR code recognition was 99.9% and that location detection is robust. In a robot-control experiment, it was shown that the tracking is accurate. During tracking, the robot maintains an appropriate distance from the human.