Ranging apparatus and method implementing stereo vision system
First Claim
1. A ranging system for telerobotics applications, comprising:
- a first video camera;
a second video camera spaced from said first video camera, said first and said second video cameras being located in a common plane;
a directional light source positioned relative to said first and said second video cameras for illuminating a portion of a selected target during selected periods;
capture means, associated with said video cameras, for capturing a first set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is illuminating a portion of the target, and for capturing a second set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is not illuminating a portion of the target, and means for generating a third set of stereoscopic images of the target eliminating common elements of the first and second set of images;
a robotic device; and
a processor electrically associated with said capture means and said robotics device, said processor including a ranging algorithm for determining the range to said target based upon remaining elements in the third set of stereoscopic images.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laser-directed ranging system for use in telerobotics applications and other applications involving physically handicapped individuals. The ranging system includes a left and right video camera mounted on a camera platform, and a remotely positioned operator. The position of the camera platform is controlled by three servo motors to orient the roll axis, pitch axis and yaw axis of the video cameras, based upon an operator input such as head motion. A laser is provided between the left and right video camera and is directed by the user to point to a target device. The images produced by the left and right video cameras are processed to eliminate all background images except for the spot created by the laser. This processing is performed by creating a digital image of the target prior to illumination by the laser, and then eliminating common pixels from the subsequent digital image which includes the laser spot. The horizontal disparity between the two processed images is calculated for use in a stereometric ranging analysis from which range is determined.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A ranging system for telerobotics applications, comprising:
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a first video camera; a second video camera spaced from said first video camera, said first and said second video cameras being located in a common plane; a directional light source positioned relative to said first and said second video cameras for illuminating a portion of a selected target during selected periods; capture means, associated with said video cameras, for capturing a first set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is illuminating a portion of the target, and for capturing a second set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is not illuminating a portion of the target, and means for generating a third set of stereoscopic images of the target eliminating common elements of the first and second set of images; a robotic device; and a processor electrically associated with said capture means and said robotics device, said processor including a ranging algorithm for determining the range to said target based upon remaining elements in the third set of stereoscopic images. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for determining range to a target, comprising:
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a directional light source operable to selectively illuminate a portion of a target to selectively create an illuminated spot on said target; a first video camera for capturing a first digital image of said spot; a second video camera for capturing a second digital image of said spot; and a computer operably associated with said first video camera and said second video camera for determining the range to said target by comparing said first and said digital images to determine disparity, wherein the range is determined from a look-up table for the determined disparity value. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for determining range to a target, comprising the steps of:
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(a) capturing a first set of stereoscopic images of a target; (b) activating a directional light source for illuminating a portion of said target; (c) capturing a second set of stereoscopic images of the target while the light source is directed onto the portion of said target; (d) generating a third set of stereoscopic images of the target by eliminating common elements of the first and second set of images; and (e) determining range to the target based upon remaining elements in the third set of stereoscopic images. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for remotely controlling a robotics device to manipulate a target device, comprising the steps of:
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(a) remotely viewing the target device; (b) capturing a left and a right video image of said target device; (c) activating a light source to generate a spot on said target device; (d) capturing a left and a right video image of said target device with said spot thereon; (e) eliminating common pixels between said video images captured in step (b) and said video images captured in step (d) to obtain a left and right image of said spot; (f) determining disparity between said left and right image obtained in step (e); (g) calculating range to said target device based upon said disparity determination; (h) positioning said robotics device to contact said target device based upon said range calculation. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An apparatus for determining range to a target, comprising:
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a directional light source for illuminating a portion of a selected target during selected periods; means including first and second video cameras for capturing a first set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is illuminating a portion of a selected target, and for capturing a second set of stereoscopic images of the target while said directional light source is not illuminating a portion of the selected target, and for generating a third set of stereoscopic images, of the illuminated portion of the target, by eliminating common elements of the first and second set of images; a computer operably associated with said first and second video cameras and said robotics device for determining the range to said target by comparing the positions of the illuminated portion of the target within said third set of images, based upon elements remaining in the third set of stereoscopic images and with common elements in said first and second sets of stereoscopic images eliminated, to determine disparity.
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Specification