Tracking Objects with Mecanum Wheel Robot Cars using Computer Vision
- Aan Darmawan Hangkawidjaja — Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
- Ratnadewi Ratnadewi — Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
- Agus Prijono — Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
- Dasapta Erwin Irawan — Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
- Satya Wibowo — Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
- Publication History
- Published online: August 31, 2026
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.35877/454RI.asci4809
- Copyright
- Copyright (c) 2026 Aan Darmawan Hangkawidjaja, Ratnadewi Ratnadewi, Agus Prijono, Dasapta Erwin Irawan, Satya Wibowo (Author)
- User License
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to describe the development of a mechanical wheeled robot car (using Mecanum wheels) that can follow an object via Computer Vision (CV). The object tracked is a regular 2-dimensional shape with a specific color (yellow), which can be attached to a person or moving object and followed by the robot at a set distance. The research methodology uses thr CV process, which begins by identifying the color of the object in the HSV (Hue, Saturation, and Value) color space, followed by shape recognition based on the number of contour keypoints obtained through Structural Analysis and Shape Descriptors. The outcomes of this combination enable the recognition of objects with a specific shape and color. To maintain the distance between the object and the robot, a calibration procedure is performed, and the distance between the robot's camera and the object is calculated using mathematical 2D distance calculations. This robot was built with a Single Board Computer (SBC) Raspberry Pi 4B+ controller (4GB memory and 32GB external memory), a Pi camera as the vision sensor, a Debian 11.0 "Bullseye" operating system, and a Python application, with assistance from the OpenCV library. According to test results on a yellow triangle-shaped object, the robot is able to track the movement of the object effectively, as intended, despite interference from objects with triangular shapes of different colors or objects of the same color.
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