Gandhi, B. orcid.org/0000-0002-0275-9868, Mihaylova, L. orcid.org/0000-0001-5856-2223 and Dogramadzi, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-0009-7522 (2024) Head tracking using an optical soft tactile sensing surface. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 11. 1410858. ISSN 2296-9144
Abstract
This research proposes a sensor for tracking the motion of a human head via optical tactile sensing. It implements the use of a fibrescope a non-metal alternative to a webcam. Previous works have included robotics grippers to mimic the sensory features of human skin, that used monochrome cameras and depth cameras. Tactile sensing has shown advantages in feedback-based interactions between robots and their environment. The methodology in this paper is utilised to track motion of objects in physical contact with these sensors to replace external camera based motion capture systems. Our immediate application is related to detection of human head motion during radiotherapy procedures. The motion was analysed in two degrees of freedom, respective to the tactile sensor (translational in z-axis, and rotational around y-axis), to produce repeatable and accurate results. The movements were stimulated by a robot arm, which also provided ground truth values from its end-effector. The fibrescope was implemented to ensure the device’s compatibility with electromagnetic waves. The cameras and the ground truth values were time synchronised using robotics operating systems tools. Image processing methods were compared between grayscale and binary image sequences, followed by motion tracking estimation using deterministic approaches. These included Lukas-Kanade Optical Flow and Simple Blob Detection, by OpenCV. The results showed that the grayscale image processing along with the Lukas-Kanade algorithm for motion tracking can produce better tracking abilities, although further exploration to improve the accuracy is still required.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Gandhi, Mihaylova and Dogramadzi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
Keywords: | head and neck; motion tracking; optical flow; radiotherapy; tactile sensing |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 2607213 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2024 14:58 |
Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2024 18:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media SA |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/frobt.2024.1410858 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:215436 |
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