System and method for determining the position of an object in three dimensions using a machine vision system with two cameras
First Claim
1. A system for estimating a three-dimensional position of an object using a machine vision system that acquires an image of the object containing a pattern that matches a trained pattern, the system comprising:
- a search tool adapted to register transformation of a pattern by at least two translational degrees of freedom and at least one non-translational degree of freedom, the search tool providing, from the image based upon the trained pattern, at least a first search tool result relative to a first axis of viewing the object and a second search tool result relative to a second axis of viewing the object;
a combiner that combines the search tool results so as to determine an estimated three dimensional position of the object, the combiner being constructed and arranged to determine a first nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom and a second nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom, and to derive the estimated three-dimensional position of the pattern based upon combining predicted uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position and the second nominal coordinate position by computing (a) a respective first direction unit vector along the first axis and a second direction unit vector along the second axis, each being respectively, representative of a predetermined uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position along the first axis and the second nominal coordinate position along the second axis, and (b) a first pair of orthonornal vectors and (c) a second pair of orthonormal vectors lying within the respective image plane, each being representative of the predetermined uncertainty; and
the combiner being further constructed and arranged to perform an estimation based upon matching a combination of weighted values for all of the first direction unit vector, the second direction unit vector, the first pair of orthonormal vectors and the second pair of orthonormal vectors with a selected three-dimensional position estimate so as to compute an optimal three-dimensional position estimate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for estimating the position of an object in three dimensions uses two cameras interconnected with a machine vision search tool. The search tool is capable of registering transformation of a pattern in at least two translational degrees of freedom, along the image plane, and at least one non-translational degree of freedom along a camera axis perpendicular to the image plane. The tool can be a rotation/scale-invariant (RSIS) search tool. A nominal position for each camera'"'"'s acquired image of the object is determined and a set of uncertainty vectors along each of the degrees of freedom is generated. The vectors are weighted, with the respective vectors along the camera axis being weighted more-highly than orthonormal vectors within the image plane. The weighted vectors are combined to define an error. The defined error is compared according to a least squares technique with selected three-dimensional position estimates and the minimum sum error is used to identify the best three-dimensional position estimate.
156 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A system for estimating a three-dimensional position of an object using a machine vision system that acquires an image of the object containing a pattern that matches a trained pattern, the system comprising:
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a search tool adapted to register transformation of a pattern by at least two translational degrees of freedom and at least one non-translational degree of freedom, the search tool providing, from the image based upon the trained pattern, at least a first search tool result relative to a first axis of viewing the object and a second search tool result relative to a second axis of viewing the object;
a combiner that combines the search tool results so as to determine an estimated three dimensional position of the object, the combiner being constructed and arranged to determine a first nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom and a second nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom, and to derive the estimated three-dimensional position of the pattern based upon combining predicted uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position and the second nominal coordinate position by computing (a) a respective first direction unit vector along the first axis and a second direction unit vector along the second axis, each being respectively, representative of a predetermined uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position along the first axis and the second nominal coordinate position along the second axis, and (b) a first pair of orthonornal vectors and (c) a second pair of orthonormal vectors lying within the respective image plane, each being representative of the predetermined uncertainty; and
the combiner being further constructed and arranged to perform an estimation based upon matching a combination of weighted values for all of the first direction unit vector, the second direction unit vector, the first pair of orthonormal vectors and the second pair of orthonormal vectors with a selected three-dimensional position estimate so as to compute an optimal three-dimensional position estimate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for estimating a three-dimensional position of an object using a machine vision system that acquires an image of the object containing a pattern that matches a trained pattern, the method comprising:
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providing, with a search tool adapted to register transformation of a pattern by at least two translational degrees of freedom and at least one non-translational degree of freedom, from the image based upon the trained pattern, at least a first search tool result relative to a first axis of viewing the object and a second search tool result relative to a second axis of viewing the object;
combining the search tool results so as to determine an estimated three dimensional position of the object, including determining a first nominal coordinate position for the object alone each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom and a second nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom, and deriving the estimated three-dimensional position of the pattern based upon combining predicted uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position and the second nominal coordinate position by computing (a) a respective first direction unit vector along the first axis and a second direction unit vector along the second axis, each being respectively, representative of a predetermined uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position along the first axis and the second nominal coordinate position along the second axis, and (b) a first pair of orthonormal vectors and (c) a second pair of orthonormal vectors lying within the respective image plane, each being representative of the predetermined uncertainty; and
performing an estimation based upon matching a combination of weighted values for all of the first direction unit vector, the second direction unit vector, the first pair of orthonormal vectors and the second pair of orthonormal vectors with a selected three-dimensional position estimate so as to compute an optimal three-dimensional position estimate. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-readable medium including program instructions executed on a computer for estimating a three-dimensional position of an object using a machine vision system that acquires an image of the object containing a pattern that matches a trained pattern, the computer-readable medium comprising program instructions for performing the steps of:
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providing, with a search tool adapted to register transformation of a pattern by at least two translational degrees of freedom and at least one non-translational degree of freedom, from the image based upon the trained pattern at least a first search tool result relative to a first axis of viewing the object and a second search tool result relative to a second axis of viewing the object;
combining the search tool results so as to determine an estimated three dimensional position of the object, including determining a first nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom and a second nominal coordinate position for the object along each of the at least two translational degrees of freedom and the at least one non-translational degree of freedom, and deriving the estimated three-dimensional position of the pattern based upon combining predicted uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position and the second nominal coordinate position by computing (a) a respective first direction unit vector along the first axis and a second direction unit vector along the second axis, each being respectively, representative of a predetermined uncertainty in the first nominal coordinate position along the first axis and the second nominal coordinate position along the second axis, and (b) a first pair of orthonormal vectors and (c) a second pair of orthonornal vectors lying within the respective image plane, each being representative of the predetermined uncertainty; and
performing an estimation based upon matching a combination of weighted values for all of the first direction unit vector, the second direction unit vector, the first pair of orthonormal vectors and the second pair of orthonormal vectors with a selected three-dimensional position estimate so as to compute an optimal three-dimensional position estimate. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification