<title>Movable Light-Stripe Sensor For Obtaining Three-Dimensional Coordinate Measurements</title>

Abstract

We describe an apparatus for obtaining three-dimensional surface information that may be used to recognize objects and determine their position and orientation. A lightweight camera and a light-stripe projector using an infrared laser diode are mounted in the hand of a robot manipulator. Image-processing routines locate the stripe in the camera image, and homogeneous coordinate transform techniques are then applied to solve for the three-dimensional coordinates of points illuminated by the stripe. We describe the hardware, the equations for coordinate measurement and the procedures for accurately calibrating the apparatus.