A visual positioning system for mobile devices includes at least one infrared camera, at least one infrared illumination source, and a processor that coordinates operation of the at least one camera and illumination sources. A flood IR infrared illumination source illuminates environmental objects for localization of the mobile device during a first camera exposure window, and a structured IR illumination source illuminate environmental objects for detection and mapping of obstacles during a second camera exposure window. A visual SLAM map is constructed with images obtained from a first camera, with a single map being useable for positioning and navigation across a variety of environmental lighting conditions. A method for training a robot includes receiving operator input signals configured to start and stop recording of defined routes during the guiding of the mobile robot along paths between different pairs of desired robot destinations, such that routes for subsequent use by the robot are generated for paths imaged while recording is active.

A positioning system and method includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a controller. The transmitter includes at least one energy source configured to emit an optical or quasi-optical electromagnetic signal as a channel communication. The receiver includes at least one detector element configured to receive the channel communication. The controller is connected to the receiver and configured to estimate a position of the transmitter within a space using a reference map of the space and one or more diffuse components of an impulse response of the channel communication.

A positioning system and method includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a controller. The transmitter includes at least one energy source configured to emit an optical or quasi-optical electromagnetic signal as a channel communication. The receiver includes at least one detector element configured to receive the channel communication. The controller is connected to the receiver and configured to estimate a position of the transmitter within a space using a reference map of the space and one or more diffuse components of an impulse response of the channel communication.

An apparatus of rapid-positioning with curved light surface includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter can emit an optical signal to the receiver. The receiver can receive an optical signal emitted by the transmitter. The apparatus of rapid-positioning with curved light surface determines a position of the receiver according to the optical signal received by the receiver. The transmitter includes: a light emitter capable of emitting optical signals of at least two flicker frequencies; and a hollow hemispherical cover provided with fixed-angle opaque sections and variable-angle opaque sections, and regions between the fixed-angle opaque sections and the variable-angle opaque sections being light transmission regions. Therefore, the apparatus and method of rapid-positioning with curved light surface provided by the present application can accurately position the receiver, and the receiver can be placed on an object surface to receive the optical signal of the transmitter, so as to perform an accurate indoor positioning. Therefore, in an intelligent production environment, a robot can accurately assist to assemble and convey materials and products. The apparatus of rapid-positioning with curved light surface of the present application can perform multiple positioning during one rotation, which can make the positioning faster.

An active marker apparatus is provided for securely affixing active markers to a wearable article of an object in a performance capture system. The active marker light components coupled to a strand, are inserted into a receptacle to position the active marker light components onto the wearable article. A gap is provided in a chamber between the active marker light component and an interior surface of a protrusion portion of the receptacle. At least a section of the protrusion portion permits light emitted from the active marker light component into the chamber, to diffuse in a manner that allows the light to be easily detected by a camera in the live action scene. Each active marker light component is locked into place in a respective receptacle by one or more channels that receive the strand. A cap fitting may further assist in securing the receptacle to the wearable article and optionally aid in visual detection of the receptacle.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining item availability are provided. A computer implemented method for determining item availability in a shopping space comprising: receiving a request for an item for purchase from a customer, querying an inventory database to determine whether the item for purchase is in stock, in an event that the item for purchase is not in stock according to the inventory database: determining an out of stock response to present to the customer, in an event that the item for purchase is in stock according the inventory database: instructing a motorized transport unit to travel to a display space in the shopping space corresponding to the item for the purchase, determining whether the item is available in the display space based on information captured by one or more sensors of the motorized transport unit, and in an event that the item for purchase is not available in the display space: determining an item unavailable response to present to the customer.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining item availability are provided. A computer implemented method for determining item availability in a shopping space comprising: receiving a request for an item for purchase from a customer, querying an inventory database to determine whether the item for purchase is in stock, in an event that the item for purchase is not in stock according to the inventory database: determining an out of stock response to present to the customer, in an event that the item for purchase is in stock according the inventory database: instructing a motorized transport unit to travel to a display space in the shopping space corresponding to the item for the purchase, determining whether the item is available in the display space based on information captured by one or more sensors of the motorized transport unit, and in an event that the item for purchase is not available in the display space: determining an item unavailable response to present to the customer.

A method for detection of an emitter mobile device (B) equipped with a light by a receiver mobile device (A) equipped with a camera, comprising: the emitter mobile device (B) emits a light-modulated signal to advertise its identity or state; the receiver mobile device (A) captures a series of frames with said camera; the modulated signal is detected from said frames; the pixel position of the emitter mobile device on a within the camera frame of the receiver mobile device is detected.

A visible light positioning receiver arrangement for obtaining spatial position information of the receiver arrangement from a plurality of luminaires (5), at least one of the luminaires including at least one associated modulated light source for transmitting a light signal providing positional information of one or more reference points associated with the luminaire, said receiver arrangement including: an imaging receiver for capturing an image of the luminaires and associated said reference point(s); and a non-imaging receiver (7) for estimating an angle of arrival (AOA) of light from each said modulated light source, and for decoding the reference point positional information therefrom; wherein said AOA information and reference point positional information from the non-imaging receiver is matched to the image captured by the imaging receiver to obtain said spatial position information.

Disclosed are an apparatus for implementing relative positioning and a corresponding relative positioning method. A positioning apparatus includes one or more first positioning markers and one or more second positioning markers. The first positioning markers define a plane. At least a subset of the second positioning markers is located outside the plane defined by the first positioning markers. The method includes: obtaining physical position information of the first positioning markers and the second positioning markers on the positioning apparatus; obtaining an image that is acquired by an imaging device and depicts the positioning apparatus; determining imaging position information of the first positioning markers and the second positioning markers based on the image; and determining, according to the physical position information and the imaging position information of the first positioning markers and the second positioning markers in combination with intrinsic parameter information of an imaging component of the imaging device, position information and/or attitude information of the imaging device relative to the positioning apparatus when the image is acquired.