System and method for providing autonomous photography and videography

1. An aerial system, comprising:

a body;

a lift mechanism coupled to the body;

an optical system controllably mounted to the body by an actuation system;

an inertial measurement unit coupled to the body; and

a processing system coupled to the lift mechanism, the optical system, the actuation system, and the inertial measurement unit, the processing system includes a processor configured to:

control a flight of the aerial system to maintain the aerial system to track a moving target; and

control, through the actuation system, the optical system to make relative movements in relation to the body to capture pictures and/or video of the moving target, wherein the optical system keeps the moving target within a desired position within a frame of the pictures and/or video;

wherein the processing system includes an auto-selection module, the auto-selection module being configured to automatically select picture(s) and/or video and/or truncated video clip(s) based on predetermined criteria, and the predetermined criteria includes a rule that if a center of the moving target is not within the desired position and if an exposure value of the target in the pictures and/or video, and blurriness and image-stability of the target in the pictures and/or video is not within the desired threshold, then the selected picture is considered as a bad candidate;

wherein the auto-selection module includes a lower frequency vibration filter to check a 2D trajectory of the moving target for proceeding the rule, and a vibration detector to utilize an IMU data from the inertial measurement unit to calculate a vibration of the body.

2. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configure to:

(a) following the moving target from behind at a fixed distance, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time;

(b) leading the moving target at the front while aiming at the moving target, keeping a fixed distance, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time; or

(c) orbiting around the moving target at a fixed distance with a constant or varying speed, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time.

3. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configure to:

(a) moving closer to or further away from the moving target at a specified camera aiming angle, with a constant/varying speed, for a finite amount of time;

(b) moving in a certain direction, in world coordinates or in target coordinates, while the optical system is aimed the moving target, with a constant/varying speed, for a finite amount of time;

(c) holding one or more degrees of freedom associated with the aerial system constant and controlling other degrees of freedom to track the moving target; or,

(d) following a pre-recorded trajectory relative to the moving target.

4. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , further including one or more position sensors, wherein the processing system is configured to integrate positioning data from the position sensors to establish a position of the aerial system.

5. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the processing system further includes an auto-detection and tracking module, the auto-detection and tracking module being configured to:

detect and locate the moving target from a video feed received from the optical system;

and, responsively establish the position and the velocity of the moving target relative to the aerial system.

6. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined criteria includes over/under exposure and/or composition.

7. The aerial system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the processing system includes an auto-editing module, the auto-editing module being configured to edit the selected picture(s), video, and/or video clip(s) based on predetermined editing parameters.

8. A method for operating an aerial system, the aerial system including a body, a lift mechanism, an optical system movably controlled by an actuation system mounted on the body, and an inertial measurement unit coupled to the body, the method including the steps of:

selecting a set of predefined control strategies;

establishing a current position of the aerial system;

establishing a current velocity of a moving target relative to the aerial system;

controlling a flight of the aerial system to maintain the aerial system at a fixed or varying distance from the moving target as a function of the established current position and current velocity of the moving target using the lift mechanism;

controlling the optical system through the actuation system to make relative movements in relation to the body to capture pictures and/or video of the moving target, wherein the optical system keeps the moving target within a desired position within a frame of the pictures and/or video; and

automatically selecting picture(s) and/or video and/or truncated video clip(s) based on predetermined criteria, wherein the predetermined criteria includes a rule that if a center of the moving target is not within the desired position and if an exposure value of the target in the pictures and/or video, and blurriness and image-stability of the target in the pictures and/or video is not within the desired threshold, then the selected picture is considered as a bad candidate;

checking a 2D trajectory of the moving target by a lower frequency vibration filter for proceeding the rule; and

calculating a vibration of the body, through a vibration detector, by utilizing an IMU data from the inertial measurement unit.

9. A method, as set forth in claim 8 , the set of predefined control strategies including:

following the moving target from behind at a fixed distance, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time;

leading the moving target at front while aiming at the moving target, keeping a fixed distance, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time; or

orbiting around the moving target with a constant or varying speed, indefinitely or for a finite amount of time.

10. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , the set of predefined control strategies including:

moving closer to or further away from the moving target at a specified camera aiming angle, with a constant/varying speed, for a finite amount of time;

moving in a certain direction, in world coordinates or in target coordinates, while the optical system is aimed the moving target, with a constant/varying speed, for a finite amount of time;

holding one or more degrees of freedom associated with the aerial system constant and controlling other degrees of freedom to track the moving target; or,

following a pre-recorded trajectory relative to the moving target.

11. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the set of predefined control strategies are selected by the user.

12. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the set of predefined control strategies are selected by a processor.

13. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , further including

establishing a current shooting mode from a set of predefined shooting modes, wherein the optical system makes relative movement in relation to the body as a function of the established current shooting mode.

14. The method, as set forth in claim 13 , wherein set of predefined shooting modes are presented to a user and the established shooting mode is selected by the user.

15. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , including the steps of:

integrating positioning data from position sensors to establish a position of the aerial system.

16. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , including the steps of:

detecting and locating the moving target from a video feed received from the optical system; and, responsively establishing the position and the velocity of the moving target relative to the aerial system.

17. The method, as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the predetermined criteria includes over/under exposure and/or composition.

18. The method, as set forth in claim 17 , including editing the selected picture(s), video, and/or video clip(s) based on predetermined editing parameters.