Video Image System Implementation on the Track Crawler Robot

The Track Crawler robot at the Center for Vehicle Systems and Safety, in Blacksburg, Virginia, is a state of the art project that is designed to examine the underbelly of trains while in a dormant state. The idea and motivation for this project comes from scenario that a train would arrive at a station, after completing a journey, and the Track Crawler robot would navigate under the train to examine the systems within to allow engineers to determine if parts of the train require extra maintenance before its next journey. Consequentially, the majority of the Track Crawler project is dependent on the proper function of the robot’s video imaging system. This system allows engineers to have a clear view of the underbelly of the theoretical train, in a space thatis otherwise not accessible to view by the naked human eye. On the current model of the Track Crawler, the robot is fitted with up to 3 GoPro Hero 8 Black Cameras, aligned in a linear fashion, to work as the robot’s video imaging system. One of the major problems with this system, however, is the vibrations the system is put under while the robot is in motion, and effect it has on the quality of videos. Therefore, the scope of this report will be to give the reader an idea of how the problem was identified as well as outlining possible solutions for a new visual imaging system that includes a new standard video camera, an infrared camera, and an adjustable light sensor. All of these proposed additional systems will work to remedy the original problem of maintaining high video quality at high frequency vibrations, and this report will serve as a foundation for implementing a more detailed design in the future.