  This work develops a tracking system based on an event-based camera. A
bioinspired filtering algorithm to reduce noise and transmitted data while
keeping the main features at the scene is implemented in FPGA which also serves
as a network node. POWERLINK IEEE 61158 industrial network is used to
communicate the FPGA with a controller connected to a self-developed two axis
servo-controlled robot. The FPGA includes the network protocol to integrate the
event-based camera as any other existing network node. The inverse kinematics
for the robot is included in the controller. In addition, another network node
is used to control pneumatic valves blowing the ball at different speed and
trajectories. To complete the system and provide a comparison, a traditional
frame-based camera is also connected to the controller. The imaging data for
the tracking system are obtained either from the event-based or frame-based
camera. Results show that the robot can accurately follow the ball using fast
image recognition, with the intrinsic advantages of the event-based system
(size, price, power). This works shows how the development of new equipment and
algorithms can be efficiently integrated in an industrial system, merging
commercial industrial equipment with the new devices so that new technologies
can rapidly enter into the industrial field.
