System for visually determining position in space and/or orientation in space and apparatus employing same
First Claim
1. A visual system to determine at least one of position in space and orientation in space and having, in combination:
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space;
sensor means operatively disposed to extract visual information from the portable means and operable to convert it to an electrical signal;
computer means that receives said electrical signal from the sensor means and evaluates the same to provide an indication of at least one of position in space and orientation in space; and
means to specify the manner in which the visual information is to be interpreted by the computer means, said means to specify being operable to effect arbitrary interpretations of the manner in which the visual information is to be interpreted.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Visual system for determining position in space and/or orientation in three-dimensional space for purposes, for example, of directing or instructing an industrial robot to perform manipulative acts and apparatus employing the visual system. The system includes a portable object arbitrarily movable in three-dimensional space and possessing the discernible properties of position in space and/or orientation in space. One or more sensors extract visual information or image data from the portable object and convert the same to an electric signal or signals. A computer is connected to receive the signal or signals which are analyzed and, in the case of the industrial robot, the information obtained is used to prepare operating instructions.
302 Citations
61 Claims
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1. A visual system to determine at least one of position in space and orientation in space and having, in combination:
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space;
sensor means operatively disposed to extract visual information from the portable means and operable to convert it to an electrical signal;
computer means that receives said electrical signal from the sensor means and evaluates the same to provide an indication of at least one of position in space and orientation in space; and
means to specify the manner in which the visual information is to be interpreted by the computer means, said means to specify being operable to effect arbitrary interpretations of the manner in which the visual information is to be interpreted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space;
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57. A method of conveying at least one of position and orientation information that comprises:
- introducing to a space of interest at least one visually detectable object which possesses the discernible properties of a+ least one of position and orientation;
sensing the presence of said object in said space to provide a signal that contains information or data relative to at least one of position and orientation of the object;
arbitrarily specifying the manner in which said information or data is to be interpreted; and
analyzing the information or data conveyed by the signal to extract therefrom said properties of the object. - View Dependent Claims (58)
- introducing to a space of interest at least one visually detectable object which possesses the discernible properties of a+ least one of position and orientation;
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59. A system to instruct a robot and having, in combination:
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space, said portable means comprising two lights separated from one another and movable with respect to one another;
means to change the distance between the two lights, the orientation of an imaginary line segment between the two lights serving as a source of visual orientation information and the position of the center of said imaginary line segment serving as a source of visual position information;
sensor means operatively disposed to extract visual information from the portable means that receives said electrical signal from the sensor means; and
computer means that evaluates the same to provide an indication of at least one of position in space and orientation in space; and
a robot, said computer means serving to control robot actions and movement on the basis of said visual information.
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space, said portable means comprising two lights separated from one another and movable with respect to one another;
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60. A visual system to determine position in space and orientation in space and having, in combination:
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space, said portable means comprising a plurality of individual sources of light disposed in an array, each source acting effectively as a point source of light in the system;
sensor means operatively disposed to extract visual information from the portable means and operable to convert it to an electrical signal, said sensor means comprising a television camera positioned to view the plurality of sources and to extract visual information from which can be determined the position in space of said point source and the orientation of the array; and
computer means that receives said electrical signal from the sensor means and evaluates the same to provide an indication of position in space and orientation in space.
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space, said portable means comprising a plurality of individual sources of light disposed in an array, each source acting effectively as a point source of light in the system;
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61. A system to determine at least one of position in space and orientation in space and having, in combination:
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space;
sensor means operatively disposed to extract spatial information from the portable means and operable to convert it to an electrical signal;
computer means that receives said electrical signal from the sensor means and evaluates the same to provide an indication of at least one of position in space and orientation in space; and
fiducial or reference means which occupies a spatial reference position from which can be determined other spatial positions of interest in the system.
- portable means arbitrarily movable in space and possessing the discernible properties of at least one of position in space and orientation in space;
Specification