A New Monocular Vision Measurement Method to Estimate 3D Positions of Objects on Floor

A new visual measurement method is proposed to estimate three-dimensional (3D) position of the object on the floor based on a single camera. The camera fixed on a robot is in an inclined position with respect to the floor. A measurement model with the camera's extrinsic parameters' such as the height and pitch angle is described. Single image of a chessboard pattern placed on the floor is enough to calibrate the camera's extrinsic parameters' after the camera's intrinsic parameters' are calibrated. Then the position of object on the floor can be computed with the measurement model. Furthermore, the height of object can be calculated with the paired-points in the vertical line sharing the same position on the floor. Compared to the conventional method used to estimate the positions on the plane, this method can obtain the 3D positions. The indoor experiment testifies the accuracy and validity of the proposed method.