| CPC G06T 7/73 (2017.01) [B64D 45/00 (2013.01); B64U 10/20 (2023.01); G06V 20/17 (2022.01); B64U 2101/30 (2023.01); B64U 2101/66 (2023.01); G06T 2207/10032 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20084 (2013.01)] | 21 Claims |
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1. A method of operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
acquiring an aerial image with an onboard camera of the UAV, wherein the aerial image includes one or more instances of an object;
analyzing the aerial image with an image classifier to classify select pixels of the aerial image as being keypoint pixels associated with keypoints of the object;
grouping the keypoint pixels into one or more groups including a first group of the keypoint pixels, wherein each of the one or more groups of the keypoint pixels is associated with a corresponding one of the one or more instances of the object, and wherein the first group of the keypoint pixels is associated with a first instance of the one or more instances of the object;
generating an estimate of a relative position of the UAV to the first instance of the object based at least partially upon a machine vision analysis of the first group of the keypoint pixels;
acquiring state information of the UAV from one or more onboard sensors of the UAV;
performing a consistency check on the estimate of the relative position by referencing the state information and at least one assumption of an orientation of the first instance of the object;
rejecting the estimate of the relative position as an erroneous estimate if the consistency check fails; and
navigating the UAV relative to the first instance of the object based upon the estimate of the relative position if the consistency check passes,
wherein the object comprises an apparatus adapted to transfer a package to the UAV.
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