Robust tracking algorithm with designed marker for limited-power computer

Abstract

Object tracking is an important part of many visual systems. The robot navigation task, for example, does not only require a robust and accurate tracking, but also need the tracking module to perform in real-time. This may not be a problem with hi-end robotic system with powerful computing unit. However, in the case of mobile robot where the computing and the battery power are limited, there are only a few tracking methods available. Thus, we propose an algorithm, coupled with a designed marker, for fast and stable tracking. The proposed algorithm utilizes robustness of Hough Circle Transform to detect candidate locations for the marker. Then, all the detected locations are filtered by known properties of the designed marker until we have the correct location. An experiment done on Raspberry PI shows that the marker can be detected robustly with sufficient speed.