Mobile robot control by using motion tracker (OptiTrack)

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ALVIN HAO
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:30 am

Mobile robot control by using motion tracker (OptiTrack)

Post by ALVIN HAO »

Hi
Good day, I am Alvin currently doing a project involve OptiTrack Cameras and mobile robot.May i know is the OptiTrack Camera can be used to control the motion of the mobile robot ? Example: through the C/C++ code, we set a reference point and if the mobile robot move to the wrong path/way, the optiTrack will send a signal to give an order to the mobile robot so that it can be move to the target point. Because i am new to motive and wondering how the optiTrack can be used to control the mobile robot.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Alvin
steven.andrews
NaturalPoint Employee
NaturalPoint Employee
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:52 am

Re: Mobile robot control by using motion tracker (OptiTrack)

Post by steven.andrews »

Hello Alvin,

I see you received a response from us directly, but we would like to share the same information, here, for the community.

The OptiTrack system could be used to track the mobile robot and determine if it is on track or not but it will not control the robot. you will need to determine how the robot is controlled.

To give you an idea of how a potential system would operate I give the following workflow.

1. Move the robot in some direction.
2. Track the robot's position using our system.
3. Determine is the robot is on track.
4. If the robot is on track continue moving along the same direction.
5. If the robot is off track, change the direction of the robot so it moves back on track.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 until the robot has moved along the entire path.

These steps are generally know as a feedback loop. it is likely that the robot does not know where it is, and so an external system is used to determine its location and signal it needs correction. This feedback loop is often performed many times per second.

Our libraries only provide the tracking functionality and a full feedback loop would need to be implemented by the designer of your system.

If you have any more questions on this topic, please feel free to reach out to us as you did before.
help.naturalpoint.com

Best,
Steven
--
Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Senior Customer Support Engineer
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