Shuttlecock tracking and trajectory estimation using Microsoft Kinect sensor

ABSTRACT The main objective of this paper is devising a method to detect the shuttlecock during a badminton game andtoestimateitstrajectory.TheMicrosoftKinect™sensor, forshuttlecockdetection,andaLinux+Pythonenvironment, for data processing and filtering, was used. The trajectory estimation information, in the form of an equation of a straight line, was transmitted via Bluetooth™ to the robot, which extracted the given coordinates and with the help of mapping techniques, aligned itself to at a specific position in the arena to intercept the shuttlecock. Innovative algorithms were used to distinguish the shuttlecock from background objects. This project was undertaken as a task for ABU-Robocon 2015, the biggest international robotics competition in Asia- Pacific, heldannually.