Autonomous Aerial Vehicle
Goals
The initial goal of the AAV team is to develop software to control a Parrot drone and allow it to fly autonomously, i.e., without input from a human.
Issues Involved or Addressed
The drone has on-board software to stabilize it and receive commands over a wireless link, and on board forward and down-facing cameras that can send a stream of images back to a computer. We currently have a Python program and libraries that allow commands to be sent to the drone and for images to be received. We are using the OpenCV library's Python interface to perform image processing. At this time the drone can identify a red square and we can determine which way the drone to move.
Methods and Technologies
Academic Majors of Interest
Preferred Interests and Preparation
For this project we need students that know (or are willing to learn) Python, control theory, image processing and image processing software, and general system building.
