Fish-eye camera calibration and artificial landmarks detection for the self-charging of a mobile robot

This paper describes techniques of camera calibration and artificial landmarks detection for the automatic charging of a mobile robot, equipped with a fish-eye camera in the direction of its operation for movement or surveillance purposes. For its identification from the surrounding environments, three landmarks employed with infrared LEDs, were installed at the charging station. When the robot reaches a certain point, a signal is sent to the LEDs for activation, which allows the robot to easily detect the landmarks using its vision camera. To eliminate the effects of the outside light interference during the process, a difference image was generated by comparing the two images taken when the LEDs are on and off respectively. A fish-eye lens was used for the vision camera of the robot but the wide-angle lens resulted in a significant image distortion. The radial lens distortion was corrected after linear perspective projection transformation based on the pin-hole model. In the experiment, the designed system showed sensing accuracy of ${\pm}10$ mm in position and ${\pm}1^{\circ}$ in orientation at the distance of 550 mm.

이동로봇의 자동충전을 위한 어안렌즈 카메라의 보정 및 인공표지의 검출