Laser tracker improves camera calibration for mobile robots
Laser-Tracker-Assisted Camera-to-Robot Calibration for Mobile Robots
RoboticsComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Summary
Calibrating cameras on mobile robots is important for robots to understand where they are and what they see. This paper shows a method that uses a precise laser tracker combined with camera images to better figure out the camera’s exact position relative to the robot. The new method works with a wider range of robot and camera setups by using multiple calibration targets chained together. This makes it easier to adapt the calibration process to different types of mobile robots.
What this means in practice
- •For robotics engineers: Improve the accuracy of camera positioning on mobile robots for better navigation and perception in varied robot setups.
- •For automated warehouse teams: Ensure precise calibration of cameras mounted on warehouse robots to enhance object detection and handling during operations.
Authors
Jan A. Rudolph, Öykü Kandemir, Markus Ulrich
Abstract
We present a laser-tracker-assisted hand-eye calibration method for camera-equipped mobile robots. The method combines laser-tracker-based 3D metrology with camera-based 2D observations. Building on our previous laser-tracker-assisted camera-to-robot calibration method for ground-observing mobile robots, we present a generalized formulation for calibrating the camera pose in the coordinate system of tracker-localized mobile robots. The new approach relaxes assumptions of our previous method on robot and camera configuration by chaining multiple calibration targets resulting in a more general approach supporting various camera-equipped mobile robot systems.