Visual Control of an Autonomous Indoor Robotic Blimp

L. M. Alkurdi, Bob Fisher

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)

Abstract

The problem of visual control of an autonomous indoor blimp is investigated in this chapter. Autonomous aerial vehicles have been an attractive platform for a wide range of applications, especially since they don’t have the terrain limitations the autonomous ground vehicles face. They have been used for advertisements, terrain mapping, surveillance, and environmental research. Blimps are a special kind of autonomous aerial vehicles; they are wingless and have the ability to hover. This makes them overcome the maneuverablility constraints winged aerial vehicles and helicopters suffer from. The authors’ blimp platform also provides an exciting platform for the application and testing of control algorithms. This is because blimps are notorious for the uncertainties within their mathematical model and their susceptibility for environmental disturbances such as wind gusts. The authors have successfully applied visual control by using a fuzzy logic controller on the robotic blimp to achieve autonomous waypoint tracking.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRobotic Vision: Technologies for Machine Learning and Vision Applications
EditorsJose Garcia-Rodriguez, Miguel A. Cazorla Quevedo
PublisherIGI Global
Pages352-370
Number of pages19
ISBN (Electronic) 9781466627031
ISBN (Print)1466626720
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Visual Control of an Autonomous Indoor Robotic Blimp'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this