GAG (Gaining Angle of Gaze) Strategy for Ball Tracking and Catching Task

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a ball tracking and catching strategy called GAG (short for “gaining angle of gaze”) that enables a mobile robot to track and catch a ball flying in three-dimensional space. The GAG strategy does not require the information of the ball's position in three-dimensional space, but instead requires only the angle of elevation of gaze captured as two-dimensional visual information. We also derive a visual feedback control scheme based on GAG and demonstrate that the proposed scheme enables the robot to track and catch a ball flying in three-dimensional space by using only a monocular vision system.