3D position estimation with a Wii-Remote camera

 

 

In this video, I am using a UMI, a sonar for altitude, and a wii-remote camera. The wii-remote camera is a very small camera that is included in the wii-remote.

The wii-remote camera gives directly the 2D coordinates of the IR spots in the image. It's interface is I2C. This is really a great sensor!

 

On my UAV, the wii-remote camera looks under.

 

I put IR LEDs on the floor.

3689422576?profile=original

 

I have put some lenses on this wii-remote camera, because the field of view was too narrow.

3689422548?profile=original

3689422636?profile=original

I still plan to make my drone navigate autonomously in an indoor environment, with several IR spots put on the floor.

 

For french-speeking people, you can see all the work that I have done on this web-site.

http://heli.bot.free.fr/

I will soon translate it in english.

 

Do not hesitate to ask me any question about this project.

 

Leon.

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • @ Roald:

    Sorry, but I don't have the reference of the lenses anymore. I have totally disassambled the 2 lenses that I used.

  • Hello,

    Can you give more information about the lenses (diameter, focal length, provider) ? This would help a lot for a non-drone project using the Wiimote IR camera.

    Thank you in advance.

  • Leon,

    I've has some success with a wii camera on my arducopter see http://diydrones.com/xn/detail/705844:Comment:662476

    I agree with your comments about how we could use the wii camera.

    One thing I think it would be really interesting for is precision landing using, x,y,z and rotation to align with a target.

    Also interesting would be to use specifically patterned targets - eg four IR LEDs in an arrow shape to point the way to the landing point - the code on the aircraft could sense the arrow target detirmine it is an arrow and orient itself with the direction of the arrow

    All sorts of possibilities

  • @ Randy : Thank you for this idea. The assembly with "hot glue" works fine now. I don't want to use a more complex solution for the moment.

     

    @ agmatthews : I think that it would be more robust to use :

    * A sonar for altitude

    * compass for orientation

    * Wii camera for x-y position

     

    Using just a wii camera for all purposes (including orientation and altitude estimation) will reduce the field in which the indoor-UAV can fly.

     

    I plan to use several IR spots spread at different position on the ground. With this, I think that I can make my UAV fly autonomously in a wide area.

     

    Leon.

  • Leon & Randy,
    I've had a play with a wii camera recently and written it up here -> http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/arducopter-navigation-with-wii-ca....
    I'm interested to hear if any one thinks it worthwhile integrating this type of sensor into the arducopter code. I think it has great potential for indoor navigation.
    Regards
    Andrew
  • Developer

    If you want to get more sophisticated with mounting the lense, you might try making a custom lens mount using a 3d printer (or a 3rd party 3d printing service like shapways.com).  I've done a lot of investigation of lenses and lens mounts for an unrelated (but in some ways similar) project.  Geoff Barrows (a true master of robots + optics) gave me this suggestion and I've actually got an order coming from shapeways in the next few days.  I'm not sure if the 3d printing gives enough detail to make the screw part of the mount but I'll find out soon.

    http://shapways.com/
    See related links to what you are looking for.
  • For the lenses, I tried several configurations. I use 2 lenses that come from mini camera lenses.

    When you look throuh the lenses assembly (with your eye), the image must be clear and wider than naturally.

    And yes, the 2 lenses are just fixed with hot glue!

    Leon.
  • Hello Leon,

    Can you tell us what lens you used to get the bigger field of view?

    Is it just hot glued, with the WII infrared filter, on top of the camera?

    Andrew

  • This could serve as a fundamental part of follow/point of interest I recon? Very nice work!
  • @ Leon, I understand its one camera. I like your approach of having all the processing done on the copter. I had an idea of using a wiimote camera to replicate motion capture systems but have not had enough time. Keep it up.  

This reply was deleted.