A vision-based automated guided vehicle system with marker recognition for indoor use

Sensors (Basel). 2013 Aug 7;13(8):10052-73. doi: 10.3390/s130810052.

Abstract

We propose an intelligent vision-based Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) system using fiduciary markers. In this paper, we explore a low-cost, efficient vehicle guiding method using a consumer grade web camera and fiduciary markers. In the proposed method, the system uses fiduciary markers with a capital letter or triangle indicating direction in it. The markers are very easy to produce, manipulate, and maintain. The marker information is used to guide a vehicle. We use hue and saturation values in the image to extract marker candidates. When the known size fiduciary marker is detected by using a bird's eye view and Hough transform, the positional relation between the marker and the vehicle can be calculated. To recognize the character in the marker, a distance transform is used. The probability of feature matching was calculated by using a distance transform, and a feature having high probability is selected as a captured marker. Four directional signals and 10 alphabet features are defined and used as markers. A 98.87% recognition rate was achieved in the testing phase. The experimental results with the fiduciary marker show that the proposed method is a solution for an indoor AGV system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Fiducial Markers*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / instrumentation*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Motor Vehicles*
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods
  • Robotics / instrumentation*
  • Robotics / methods*