A High Performance Motion Capture System to Support Versatile Research Programs

物体的精确跟踪和三维姿态(位置定向)的实时测量在工业和学术界有着广泛的应用，例如用于仪器校准和运动分析。运动捕捉或运动捕捉系统就是为了满足这种需求而设计的。自引入以来，MOCAP系统已有效地用于军事、娱乐、体育、医学、工程，特别是用于验证概念和方法的研究中的各种应用。一些报告表明，MOCAP系统在加快复杂系统的开发周期方面发挥了重要作用。例如，在机器人学中，MOCAP系统通常用于移动机器人的精确跟踪和位姿测量，以评估和验证位姿估计、SLAM(同步定位和地图绘制)和控制方法。此外，来自MOCAP系统的数据经常被用作代表理想感知模块的地面真相。最近的市场报告显示，到2024年，全球3D运动捕捉市场将从2018年的1.298亿美元增长到2.5288亿美元(美通社，2019年9月11日)。在MOCAP系统中，光学系统因其优势而变得流行，例如，相对于惯性系统(引入漂移并且位置精度较低)、机械系统(需要穿昂贵的机械服)和磁系统(其容易受到环境中金属物体的电磁干扰)。*在本方案中，需要一个光学MOCAP系统，即VICON Vero，以满足多样化研究计划的需求。这些设备将安装在校园内其他研究人员可以进入的区域，以最大限度地利用它。申请者将立即受益于所需设备的研究项目包括：(1)图像引导连续体机器人的建模和控制，重点是心脏干预；(2)通过演示开发机器人编程的视觉学习系统；(3)基于人工智能的对象检测、控制和自主播种机器人的农田覆盖路径规划方法；(4)空中操纵系统的建模和控制；(5)机器人手术远程机器人平台的设计；以及(6)机器人车辆的同步定位和地图绘制技术。*除了申请者和合作者外，他们的博士后研究员、研究生和本科生将接受培训，操作最先进的MOCAP系统，并学习先进的测量、数据集成和分析方法。这些技能对他们的学习以及娱乐、制造业和医疗保健等加拿大关键行业的高需求将非常重要。除了Ryerson大学，这种新设备还将扩大工业合作伙伴、iBest(生物医学工程、科学和技术研究所)和合作医院的研究能力。********

Accurate tracking of objects and measurement of their 3D pose (position-orientation) in real-time have numerous applications in industry and academia, e.g., for instruments calibration, and motion analysis. Motion capture or mocap systems have been designed to fulfill such a need. Since their introduction, mocap systems have been effectively used in a variety of applications in military, entertainment, sports, medicine, engineering, and, particularly, research for verification of concepts and methods. Several reports have shown that mocap systems have had a major role in speeding up the development cycle of complex systems. For instance, in robotics, mocap systems are commonly used for accurate tracking and pose measurement of mobile robots to evaluate and verify pose estimation, SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping), and control methods. Moreover, the data from mocap systems are often used as ground-truth representing ideal perception modules. Recent market report indicates that global 3D motion capture market will grow from USD 129.8 million in 2018 to USD 252.88 million by 2024 (PR Newswire, Sep 11, 2019). Among mocap systems, optical systems have become popular due to their advantages, e.g., over inertial systems (that introduce drift and have lower positional accuracy), mechanical systems (which need wearing expensive mechanical suits), and magnetic systems (that are susceptible to electromagnetic interference from metal objects in the environment). ******In this proposal, an optical mocap system, namely Vicon Vero is requested to meet the needs of versatile research programs. The equipment will be installed in a zone accessible to other researchers across the campus to maximize its use. The research programs of the applicants that will immediately benefit from the requested equipment include projects related to: (1) modeling and control of image-guided continuum robots, with the focus on cardiac interventions; (2) development of a visual learning system for robot programming by demonstration; (3) AI-based methods for object detection, control, and farm-field coverage path planning of an autonomous seeding robot; (4) modeling and control of aerial manipulation systems; (5) design of telerobotic platforms for robotic surgery; and (6) simultaneous localization and mapping techniques for robotic vehicles.******Besides the applicants and collaborators, their postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students will be trained to operate state-of-the-art mocap system, and learn advanced measurement, data integration and analysis methods. These skills will be important to their studies and in high-demand by key Canadian industries such as entertainment, manufacturing, and healthcare. In addition to Ryerson University, this new equipment will expand research capacity of industrial partners, iBest (Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Technology) and partner hospitals. ********