FPGA implementation of vision algorithms for small autonomous robots

摘要

The use of on-board vision with small autonomous robots has been made possible by the advances in the field of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. By connecting a CMOS camera to an FPGA board, on-board vision has been used to reduce the computation time inherent in vision algorithms. The FPGA board allows the user to create custom hardware in a faster, safer, and more easily verifiable manner that decreases the computation time and allows the vision to be done in real-time. Real-time vision tasks for small autonomous robots include object tracking, obstacle detection and avoidance, and path planning. Competitions were created to demonstrate that our algorithms work with our small autonomous vehicles in dealing with these problems. These competitions include Mouse-Trapped-in-a-Box, where the robot has to detect the edges of a box that it is trapped in and move towards them without touching them; Obstacle Avoidance, where an obstacle is placed at any arbitrary point in front of the robot and the robot has to navigate itself around the obstacle; Canyon Following, where the robot has to move to the center of a canyon and follow the canyon walls trying to stay in the center; the Grand Challenge, where the robot had to navigate a hallway and return to its original position in a given amount of time; and Stereo Vision, where a separate robot had to catch tennis balls launched from an air powered cannon. Teams competed on each of these competitions that were designed for a graduate-level robotic vision class, and each team had to develop their own algorithm and hardware components. This paper discusses one team's approach to each of these problems.