Experiments in vision-based control of a neutrally buoyant free-flyer

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Abstract
The Laboratory for Space Teleoperation and Robotics is developing a neutrally-buoyant robot for research into the automatic and teleoperated (remote human) control of unmanned robotic vehicles for use in space. The goal of this project is to develop a remote robot with maneuverability and dexterity comparable to that of a space-suited astronaut with a manned maneuvering unit, able to assume many of the tasks currently planned for astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA). Such a robot would be able to spare the great expense and hazards associated with human EVA, and make possible much less expensive scientific and industrialization exploitation of orbit. Both autonomous and teleoperated control experiments will require the vehicle to be able to automatically control its position and orientation. The laboratory is developing vision-based vehicle navigation system that works by tracking features in video images from cameras mounted on the vehicle and trained at a special target fixed in the environment. The methods are adaptable to a variety of video-based tracking systems, and are based on a linearized vision model, receiving as inputs image feature coordinates at each time step This paper includes a description of the underwater vehicle and the vision system.

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