A new generic model for vision based tracking in robotics systems

Visual sensing for robotics has been around for decades, but our understanding of a timing model remains crude. By timing model, we refer to the delays (processing lag and motion lag) between "reality" (when a part is sensed), through data processing (the processing of image data to determine part position and orientation), through control (the computation and initiation of robot motion), through "arrival" (when the robot reaches "reality"). In this work we introduce a timing model where sensing and control operate asynchronously. We apply this model to a robotic workcell consisting of a Staubli RX-130 industrial robot manipulator, a network of six cameras for sensing, and an off-the-shelf Adept MV-19 controller. We demonstrate some experiments to show how the model is applied.