Vision-based docking for automatic security robot power recharging

The power supply for autonomous mobile robots is an important issue for keeping robots in their long-term functionality. Recharging is necessary before the power of the robot has exhausted. In this paper, we propose a vision-based docking strategy for the security robot recharging. A landmark is detected and recognized by the proposed image processing. Then the geometrical relationship between the robot and the docking station (the depth and orientation) is estimated. The robot moves directly to the right front of the docking station. Finally, the robot approaches to the docking station. Experimental results show that the proposed method successfully performs the docking.