Simulating pursuit with machines. Experiments with robots and artificial vision

This article describes one solution for the problem of pursuit by using a mobile robot and an active vision system. The solution deals with the interaction of different control systems using visual feedback and it is accomplished by the implementation of a visual gaze holding process interacting cooperatively with the control of the trajectory of a mobile robot. These two systems are integrated to follow a moving object at constant distance and orientation with respect to the mobile robot. The orientation and the position of the active vision system running a gaze holding process give the feedback signals to the control used to pursuit the target in real-time. The mechanisms of cooperation between the different control and visual algorithms are described. The final solution is a system able to operate at approximately human walking rates.