Motion Tracking Using Arduino?

Question

I'm trying to make a human following robot.Tried using ultrasonic sensors to follow a specific person by Having ultrasonic sensor with the person to send echo to the robot,But it didn't workout. Any way to track a specific person and follow ? Any sensors/algorithm to track fast moving object(a person but not specific)?

Answer 1

If you are clever with software you may be able to simplify your hardware requirements down to 1 IR ASK transmitter and 1 IR ASK IR receiver.

I mention IR ASK as the transmitter (simply a remote control with a button pushed down) and the receiver are COTS parts.

Consider your robot looking for an IR ASK signal by rotation until one is found. Then consider your robot traveling in a serpentine path adjusting its average vector along the angle where the IR ASK transmitter is detected.

You might need to create an variable aperture the IR ASK receiver will look through. This is because most IR ASK receivers have a built in AGC circuit which will abstract you from knowing how strong the signal is.

So, while searching, the aperture will be large allowing the IR ASK receiver a wide field of view. But once locked on, the aperture should be reduced so that the robot will know in which direction the IR ASK signal is from.

Answer 2

You need the person to emit a signal and the robot to receive it, sounds simple, but it isn't. What you are trying to do is position fix the transmitter, in the same way as an ATC locates a plane.

The robot will need at least two directional receivers positioned a certain distance apart (depends of frequency and accuracy) to allow the robot to triangulate the transmitter. The more receivers the more complex the triangulation. The frequency of the signal you transmit will affect the distance that the robot can be from the person, research Frequency spectrum and transmission distances. The longer the distance the signal can travel the stronger the signal will be at close range. You also have to counter reflections and side lobes which will give you inaccurate readings on the transmitter direction. Once you have dealt with all of that all you need to do is scan for the strongest signal on your frequency, triangulate it and then head towards it. Whatever sensor you use the theory is the pretty much the same.

Could you tag the person with a GPS receiver and WIFI/BT and get it to transmit its location. The robot could then consult its GPS and calculate the delta and move accordingly.