Applying vision feedback to crane controller design

Encoders are generally used to track the motion of industrial mechanisms. However, the information obtained by encoders may have errors due to encoder aging or mechanism-design problem. Therefore, information by visual feedback is a better way to track the movement of industrial mechanisms. However, image information costs lots of computing effort so it is not easy to be used in real-time control applications. This manuscript derives a simple but effective visual feedback method to follow the target and the image information is obtained only by a general handy camcorder. Besides, the proposed method can track multi-locations in a meantime. Fast image pattern recognition and localisation of the colour histogram by using a moving tracking block is applied to increase the calculation speed. Finally, the obtained locations information by the proposed visual feedback method is applied in an industrial crane control system to verify the effectiveness.