Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Industrial Science & Technology, Kozo Iizuka, Director-general of Agency

Hironobu Takahashi

Hajime Terasaki

Fumiaki Tomita

Kazuhide Sugimoto

Hideo Hirono

An image processing method and an apparatus therefor calculating the rotations and the magnifications of a plurality of image pick-up devices, which are located at different positions and rotations and rotates, and pick-up images of the same object in a three-dimensional space, from the following equation by matching the image picked-up by the two arbitrary image pick-up devices, extracting the corresponding points, and detecting the coordinates values thereof on each image, ##EQU1## where, {expression}.sub.y : y component of the expression,

Method and apparatus for three-dimensional position measurement

Pick-and-place grasp candidates for positions at which an object can be picked and placed on a table are calculated based on the initial and goal states of the object, the surrounding environment state at the initial and goal states and the geometrical data of a robot hand. A space characterization is prepared which represents various states relating to the object around the grasp position in each of the calculated pick-and-place grasp candidates. The magnitude of the space in which the hand can be moved is estimated from the prepared space characterizations. Based on the results, position and orientation for pick-and-place grasp is selected from the pick-and-place grasp candidates. If the object cannot be moved from its initial state to its goal state through one grasp and movement action, the object is once returned onto the table and regrasped by the robot hand. Regrasp orientation of the object is selected from stable orientations which depend on the geometric data of objects to be handled. In such a manner, a robot operation plan can be prepared automatically.

Operation planning system for robot

A checkered characteristic pattern is picked up by an image input device to form pick-up data. Characterizing points (intersecting points) are detected from the pick-up data. From the arrangement of the characterizing points about the center of the pattern and the positions of the characterizing points on the picture plane, a mapping function obtained when a TV camera is assumed to be a pin-hole camera is prepared. Reference positions of the characterizing points through the entire picture plane are calculated from the mapping function. The reference positions are compared with the actual positions on the picture plane to calculate a correcting function which in turn is stored in a correcting function preparing device. Normally, the inputted image is corrected by the correcting function and then outputted to an image output device.

Image processing apparatus and method of strain correction in such an

Pick-and-place grasp candidates for positions at which an object can be picked and placed on a table are calculated based on the initial and goal states of the object, the surrounding environment state at the initial and goal states and the geometrical data of a robot hand. A space characterization is prepared which represents various states relating to the object around the grasp position in each of the calculated pick-and-place grasp candidates. The magnitude of the space in which the hand can be moved is estimated from the prepared space characterizations. Based on the results, position and orientation for pick-and-place grasp is selected from the pick-and-place grasp candidates. If the object cannot be moved from its initial state to its goal state through one grasp and movement action, the object is once returned onto the table and regrasped by the robot hand. Regrasp orientation of the object the is selected from stable orientations which depend on the geometric data of objects to be handled. In such a manner, a robot operation plan can be prepared automatically.

An image processing method for matching edges detected in images of the same objects in a three-dimensional scene which are taken simultaneously by two or more image pick-up devices at different positions, in which the boundary segments on the edges are classified into apparently real segments, apparently imaginary segments or undefined segments, a planar surface is found for each boundary which has all apparently real segments and no apparently imaginary segment on it by using the information of the points of occlusion, the surface is regarded as the real surface in the case where there is only one surface which has no segment under it, so that surface information and the distance information at arbitrary points on the real surface are obtained.

Growing community of inventors

Tsukuba, Japan

Hironobu Takahashi