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line SMME,
University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey,
GU2 7XH, UK

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Development of active robotic stereo heads for immersive telepresence applications

The MSRR Group are undertaking research in several areas that will allow for remote interaction with hazardous environments. Much of this work is focussed around novel robotic head systems which have been developed using the skills and knowledge acquired by the Group in its previous work on active stereo vision systems for autonomous robot control. The first MSRR telepresence system (pictured below in Figure (1)) incorporated an active stereo robotic head system mounted on a small commercial mobile vehicle. The active stereo vision system was servo-controlled by the motion of the operators head. The stereo-optic viewing system consists of a head-mounted display for the operator and a stereoscopic monitor which can be used by observers.

The latest stereo head system, pictured in Figures (2) and (3) above, is used for research into augmented reality (AR) is an extremely compact, lightweight device capable of independent vergence and common pan and tilt of two remote-head colour cameras. DC servo motors are used to drive the head via harmonic drive gearboxes with closed-loop feedback provided by optical encoders mounted on the motor shafts. The high angular resolution and velocity of the selected drives provide a smoother motion profile than most alternative drive configurations. At present, the typical operation of the head is that the pan and tilt axes are slaved to the motion of a human operators head using two degrees of freedom (DoF) of a three DoF head tracker. The two vergence motors are not actively used at present but are powered up to maintain a parallel configuration between the two camera bodies. The controller architecture for the latest head is based around a multi-axis single board motion controller from Delta Tau Inc.

We are able to build custom designed robotic stereo head systems and their controllers for interested third parties. Previous customers have included defence research organisations and other University research groups. If you are interested in discussing your stereo head requirements then please contact Prof. Graham Parker by email (g.parker@surrey.ac.uk) or by telephone (44 +(0)1483 879283), or fax (44 +(0)1483 306039).

These pages are administered by Maarten Michielen (m.michielen@surrey.ac.uk)
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Last change: April 2000