Robot vision and optical location systems

Claim 1

An object location system for generating a three-dimensional map of the visible surfaces of objects disposed within a predefined field of view comprising: projection means situated at a first known location for projecting a beam of radiation into the field of view and periodically scanning said beam over the entire field of view; encoding means for continuously encoding said beam of radiation with information indicative of its instantaneous direction of projection; detection means situated at a second known location spaced apart from said first known location for monitoring the field of view to detect radiation from said beam scattered or reflected from surfaces of the objects in said field and producing detection signals indicative of the directions from which said scattered or reflected radiation is received by said detection means; decoding means connected to said detection means and responsive to the encoding carried on the projected beam direction; map storage means comprising an array of memory elements representing a map of the field of view having one more dimension than that of said detection means; and map generating means responsive to successive detected signals and decoded signals to store information in respective memory array elements to model the location in said field of view of detected points on the surfaces of the objects located therein.

Claim 15

A system as claimed in 8 wherein said map generating means comprises: means for comparing and analyzing the contents of said map generating means on a real time basis and for generating spatial co-ordinates and vector velocities for objects moving within said field.

Claim 17

A method of locating objects and mapping the shape of surfaces in a target area comprising the steps of: (a) projecting a beam of radiation into the target area in a known direction from a first known location for producing scattered or reflected radiation from objects or surfaces in the target area; (b) detecting said scattered or reflected radiation at a second known location and determining the direction from which said scattered or reflected radiation is received; (c) determining the co-ordinates of said objects or surfaces within the target area from which said projected radiation was scattered or reflect by performing calculations on said known direction of projection and said determined direction from which said scattered or reflected radiation is received; and (d) systematically altering the angle of projection of said beam until the whole target area has been scanned by said beam and at the same time building a map of the surfaces detected in the target area from the respective calculated co-ordinates.

Claim 18

A method of locating objects and mapping the shape of surfaces in a target area comprising the steps of: (a) projecting a beam of radiation into the target area in a known direction from a first known location for producing scattered or reflected radiation from objects or surfaces in the target area; (b) detecting said scattered or reflected radiation at a second known location and determining the direction from which said scattered or reflected radiation is received; (c) determining the co-ordinates of said objects or surfaces within the target area from which said projected radiation was scattered or reflect by performing calculations on said known direction of projection and said determined direction from which said scattered or reflected radiation is received; and (d) systematically altering the angle of projection of said beam until the whole target area has been scanned by said beam and at the same time building a map of the surfaces detected in the target area from the respective calculated co-ordinates.

Claim 19

A method of locating objects and mapping the three dimensional shape of all object surfaces visible in a target area comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously illuminating the entire target area by projecting a plurality of discrete beams of radiation into the target area from a known location so that each beam illuminates a fraction of the target area with each fraction of the target area being illuminated by only one of the beams, whereby scattered or reflected radiation is produced from objects or surfaces in the target area; (b) encoding each beam by modulation with information indicative of is respective direction of projection; (c) detecting elements of said scattered or reflected radiation at a second known location and determining the direction from which each element of said scattered or reflected radiation is received; (d) decoding the encoded beam direction information carried by each received element of the scattered or reflected radiation to determine the original direction of projection of the beam from which that element originated; (e) correlating said information carried by said detected radiation relating to projected beam directions with the directions from which respective scattered or reflected radiation is received; and f) deriving a series of surface co-ordinates from which a map can be constructed of the surfaces in the target area from which the scattered or reflected radiation from the beam has been detected.

Claim 20

A method of locating objects and mapping the three dimensional shape of all object surfaces visible in a target area comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously illuminating the entire target area by projecting a plurality of discrete beams of radiation into the target area from a known location so that each beam illuminates a fraction of the target area with each fraction of the target area being illuminated by only one of the beams, whereby scattered or reflected radiation is produced from objects or surfaces in the target area; (b) encoding each beam by modulation with information indicative of is respective direction of projection; (c) detecting elements of said scattered or reflected radiation at a second known location and determining the direction from which each element of said scattered or reflected radiation is received; (d) decoding the encoded beam direction information carried by each received element of the scattered or reflected radiation to determine the original direction of projection of the beam from which that element originated; (e) correlating said information carried by said detected radiation relating to projected beam directions with the directions from which respective scattered or reflected radiation is received; and f) deriving a series of surface co-ordinates from which a map can be constructed of the surfaces in the target area from which the scattered or reflected radiation from the beam has been detected.