Development of a Visual Feedback Navigation System using Multiple Image Processing Hosts

In recent years, automatic running of the vehicle robots is studied actively. There are various kinds of methods; visual feedback control is one of them. In our laboratory, ten cameras set below the ceiling capture vehicles states; then each image are processed by host computer and vehicles are controlled. At the moment, the experimental course is divided into two areas. Since each area is covered by independent host computers which process four or six cameras respectively, vehicles cannot run in these two areas; the trajectory that vehicle run is limited. The aim of this study is to introduce the development of communication system between hosts. The communication between host computers is realized using LAN. We also designed prediction of image processing area to prevent losing sight of vehicle. We verified advantage of this system through experiments. Moreover, since this system includes time delay, we identified delay factors. In addition, we verified delay influences through experiments and showed advantages of this system for education and research.