A quadcopter-based auto cameraman system

In this project, a quadcopter-based auto cameraman system is designed and implemented. The quadcopter equips with an ordinary camera for both video recording and target tracking. Via tracking the position and orientation of the markers on the reporter's microphone, the quadcopter can move to the corresponding position relative to the microphone such that the onboard camera can always have a good view of the reporter. The quadcopter is further installed with sonar and optical flow sensors to maintain its tracking capability and to provide obstacle avoidance functionalities. Sensing data are collected and processed locally using the onboard Intel compute stick and an Arduino Nano board. The proposed system can greatly reduce the manpower involved in live outdoor news anchoring.