A concurrent on-board vision system for a mobile robot

Robot vision algorithms have been implemented on an 8-node NCUBE-AT hypercube system onboard a mobile robot (HERMIES) developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Images are digitized using a framegrabber mounted in a VME rack. Image processing and analysis are performed on the hypercube system. The vision system is integrated with robot navigation and control software, enabling the robot to find the front of a mockup control panel, move up to the panel, and read an analog meter. Among the concurrent algorithms used for image analysis are a new component labeling algorithm and a Hough transform algorithm with load balancing.