An Event-based Fast Movement Detection Algorithm for a Positioning Robot Using POWERLINK Communication

TL;DR

This paper presents an integrated industrial tracking system using an event-based camera and FPGA for fast movement detection, demonstrating improved speed and efficiency over traditional methods in a robot control context.

Contribution

It introduces a novel FPGA-based filtering algorithm and integrates an event-based camera with POWERLINK network for real-time robot tracking and control.

Findings

Robot accurately follows the ball with fast image recognition

Event-based system offers advantages in size, price, and power

Successful integration of new technology into industrial systems

Abstract

This work develops a tracking system based on an event-based camera. A bioinspired filtering algorithm to reduce noise and transmitted data while keeping the main features at the scene is implemented in FPGA which also serves as a network node. POWERLINK IEEE 61158 industrial network is used to communicate the FPGA with a controller connected to a self-developed two axis servo-controlled robot. The FPGA includes the network protocol to integrate the event-based camera as any other existing network node. The inverse kinematics for the robot is included in the controller. In addition, another network node is used to control pneumatic valves blowing the ball at different speed and trajectories. To complete the system and provide a comparison, a traditional frame-based camera is also connected to the controller. The imaging data for the tracking system are obtained either from the event-based or frame-based camera. Results show that the robot can accurately follow the ball using fast image recognition, with the intrinsic advantages of the event-based system (size, price, power). This works shows how the development of new equipment and algorithms can be efficiently integrated in an industrial system, merging commercial industrial equipment with the new devices so that new technologies can rapidly enter into the industrial field.