Astronaut Visual Tracking of Flying Assistant Robot in Space Station Based on Deep Learning and Probabilistic Model

Abstract

Real-time astronaut visual tracking is the most important prerequisite for flying assistant robot to follow and assist the served astronaut in the space station. In this paper, an astronaut visual tracking algorithm which is based on deep learning and probabilistic model is proposed. Fine-tuned with feature extraction layers’ parameters being initialized by ready-made model, an improved SSD (Single Shot Multibox Detector) network was proposed for robust astronaut detection in color image. Associating the detection results with synchronized depth image measured by RGB-D camera, a probabilistic model is presented to ensure accurate and consecutive tracking of the certain served astronaut. The algorithm runs 10 fps at Jetson TX2, and it was extensively validated by several datasets which contain most instances of astronaut activities. The experimental results indicate that our proposed algorithm achieves not only robust tracking of the specified person with diverse postures or dressings but also effective occlusion detection for avoiding mistaken tracking.