Camera self orientation and docking maneuver using normal flow

In this paper the possibility of driving egomotion in order to dock with a non-moving target using information on the rst order approximation of the optic ow in the center of the image is presented; speciically it will be shown how a camera mounted on the end-eeector of a six degrees of freedom robot arm can be driven toward a planar surface whose position and orientation in space are unknown, avoiding collisions with the target and orienting the camera with its viewing direction perpendicular to the surface. It will be described how it is possible to achieve this task combining the eeect of three simple independent processes: braking, xation and sideway translation.