This paper describes an approach to realize a cameraman robot. Here a robot is given a task to follow a certain trajectory for taking the video of an actor in a designated time. The trajectory is relative to the actor, so that the robot has to take into account the actor's movement. We map the given trajectory to a new one in the state-time space based on the prediction of the actor's pose. We then build a trajectory tracking system using a 3D time-space wavefront potential considering the robot kinematic, trajectory cost, obstacles, and visibility constraints. This potential is then used for generating the robot motion control by using a modified random tree search algorithm with the control law. Simulation results show the effectiveness and feasibility of our approach.

This paper describes a viewpoint planning algorithm for a guard robot in an indoor environment. The viewpoint planner is used for the guard robot to watch a certain object such as human continuously. Rather than continuously follows the object, moving the guard robot using the viewpoint planner has many benefits such as reducing the movement and the energy used by the robot. Our viewpoint planner exploits the topology feature of the environment, which is extracted using a skeletonization technique to get a set of viewpoints. We search for escaping gaps from which the target may go out of the robot's sight, and make the movement model of the target and the robot to determine the predicted time of the worst case escape of the target. We then plan the action for the robot based on the geodesic model and escaping gaps. Simulation results using 3D simulator are provided to show the effectiveness and feasibility of our algorithm.

This paper deals with a path planning problem in the dynamic and cluttered environments. The presence of moving obstacles and kinodynamic constraints of the robot increases the complexity of path planning problem. We model the environment and motion of dynamic obstacles in 3D time-space. We propose the utilization of the arrival time field for examining the most promising area in those obstacles-occupied 3D time-space for approaching the goal. The arrival time field is used for guiding the expansion of a randomized tree search in a favorable way, considering kinodynamic constraints of the robot. The quality and the optimality of the path are taken into account by performing heuristic methods on the randomized tree. Simulation results are also provided to prove the feasibility, possibility, and effectiveness of our algorithm.