A Hand-Eye Vision Measuring System for Articulate Robots

To make dynamic measurements for an articulate robot, a hand-eye vision measuring system is built up. This system uses two charge coupled device (CCD) cameras mounted on the end-effector of the robot. System analysis is based on the stereovision theory and line-matching technology, using a computer to evaluate the dynamic performance parameters of an articulate robot from the two images captured by the two cameras. The measuring procedure includes four stages, namely, calibration, sampling, image process-ing, and calculation. The path accuracy of an articulate industrial robot was measured by this system. The results show that this system is a low-cost, easy to operate, and simple system for the dynamic performance testing of articulate robots.

Measuring Propeller Blade Width Using Binocular Stereo Vision

Propeller blade width measurement has been extensively studied in the past using direct and indirect methods, and it plays a great role in determining the quality of the finished products. It has surveyed that previous techniques are usually time-consuming and erroneous due to a large number of points to be processed in blade width measurement. This paper proposes a new method of measuring blade width using two images acquired from different viewpoints of the same blade. And a new feature points matching approach for propeller blade image is proposed in stereo vision measurement. Based on these, pixel coordinates of contour points of the blade in two images are extracted and converted to real world coordinates by image algorithm and binocular stereo machine vision theory. Then, from the real world coordinates, the blade width at any position can be determined by simple geometrical method.

Feature-based sequential partial vision measurement method for large scale machine parts

To realize the high-precision vision measurement for large scale machine parts, a new vision measurement method based on dimension features of sequential partial images is proposed. Instead of mosaicking the partial images, extracting the dimension features of the sequential partial images and deriving the part size according to the relationships between the sequential images is a novel method to realize the high- precision and fast measurement of machine parts. To overcome the corresponding problems arising from the relative rotation between two sequential partial images, a rectifying method based on texture features is put forward to effectively improve the processing speed. Finally, a case study is provided to demonstrate the analysis procedure and the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experiments show that the relative error is less than 0. 012% using the sequential image measurement method to gauge large scale straight-edge parts. The measurement precision meets the needs of precise measurement for sheet metal parts.

Single Camera 3-D Coordinate Measuring System Based on Optical Probe Imaging

A new vision coordinate measuring system--single camera 3 D coordinate measuring system based on optical probe imaging is presented. A new idea in vision coordinate measurement is proposed. A linear model is deduced which can distinguish six freedom degrees of optical probe to realize coordinate measurement of the object surface. The effects of some factors on the resolution of the system are analyzed. The simulating experiments have shown that the system model is available.

Vision testing method for diameter,roundness and hardness of table tennis ball

Under the premise of fully respecting current national standard of table tennis ball,this paper presents an integrated and effective method for testing diameter,roundness and hardness of table tennis ball based on vision measurement. Firstly,camera calibration is performed by 40 mm gauge block to capture the images of table tennis ball in static and pressed state in an appropriate lighting condition. Then image binarization and extraction of image contour are carried out. The least square method is used to fit its center. Finally,the diameter,roundness and hardness are calculated. The measurement data are analyzed by using the method presented in this paper for table tennis ball with known parameter data and with unknown parameter data. Experimental results show that this method can improve measurement accuracy and provide a technical basis for the online testing and integration measurement of table tennis ball.

Spectral Test Instrument for Color Vision Measurement

Common displays such as CRT or LCD screens have limited capabilities in displaying most color spectra correctly. The main disadvantage of these devices is that they work with three primaries and the colors displayed are the mixture of these three colours. Consequently these devices can be confusing in testing human color identification, because the spectral distribution of the colors displayed is the combined spectrum of the three primaries. We have developed a new instrument for spectrally correct color vision measurement. This instrument uses light emitting diodes (LEDs) and is capable of producing all spectra of perceivable colors, thus with appropriate test methods this instrument can be a reliable and useful tool in test~ing human color vision and in verifying color vision correction.

Robot Vision System for Coordinate Measurement of Feature Points on Large Scale Automobile Part

In this paper,we present a robot vision based system for coordinate measurement of feature points on large scale automobile parts.Our system consists of an industrial 6-DOF robot mounted with a CCD camera and a PC.The system controls the robot into the area of feature points.The images of measuring feature points are acquired by the camera mounted on the robot.3D positions of the feature points are obtained from a model based pose estimation that applies to the images.The measured positions of all feature points are then transformed to the reference coordinate of feature points whose positions are obtained from the coordinate measuring machine（CMM）.Finally,the point-to-point distances between the measured feature points and the reference feature points are calculated and reported.The results show that the root mean square error（RMSE） of measure values obtained by our system is less than 0.5 mm.Our system is adequate for automobile assembly and can perform faster than conventional methods.

Accurate vision measurement for kinematic parameters of satellite separation tests

The accurate measurement of kinematic parameters in satellite separation tests has great significance in evaluating separation performance. A novel study is made on the measuring accuracy of monocular and binocular, which are the two main vision measurement methods used for kinematic parameters. As satellite separation process is transient and high-dynamic, it will bring more extraction errors to the binocular. Based on the design approach of intersection measure and variance ratio, the monocular method reflects higher precision, simpler structure and easier calibration for level satellite separation. In ground separation tests, a high-speed monocular system is developed to gain and analyze twelve kinematic parameters of a small satellite. Research shows that this monocular method can be widely applied for its high precision, with position accuracy of 0.5 mm, speed accuracy of 5 mm/s, and angular velocity accuracy of 1 (°)/s.

IN SlTU TRUING/DRESSING OF DIAMOND WHEEL FOR PRECISION GRINDING

An application for achieving on-machine truing/dressing and monitoring of diamond wheel is dealt with in dry grinding. A dry electrical discharge （ED） assisted truing and dressing method is adopted in preparation of diamond grinding wheels. Effective and precise truing/dressing of a diamond wheel is carried out on a CNC curve grinding machine by utilizing an ED assisted diamond dresser. The dressed wheel is monitored online by a CCD vision system. It detects the topography changes of a wheel surface. The wear condition is evaluated by analyzing the edge deviation of a wheel image. The benefits of the proposed methods are confirmed by the grinding experiments. The designed truing/dressing device has high material removal rate, low dresser wear, and hence guarantees a desired wheel surface. Real-time monitoring of the wheel profile facilitates determining the optimum dressing amount, dressing interval, and the compensation error.

Multi-camera calibration method based on minimizing the difference of reprojection error vectors

In order to achieve a high precision in three-dimensional（3D） multi-camera measurement system, an efficient multi-cameracalibration method is proposed. A stitching method of large scalecalibration targets is deduced, and a fundamental of multi-cameracalibration based on the large scale calibration target is provided.To avoid the shortcomings of the method, the vector differencesof reprojection error with the presence of the constraint conditionof the constant rigid body transformation is modelled, and mini-mized by the Levenberg-Marquardt （LM） method. Results of thesimulation and observation data calibration experiment show thatthe accuracy of the system calibrated by the proposed methodreaches 2 mm when measuring distance section of 20 000 mmand scale section of 7 000 mm × 7 000 mm. Consequently, theproposed method of multi-camera calibration performs better thanthe fundamental in stability. This technique offers a more uniformerror distribution for measuring large scale space.

Measuring method for micro-diameter based on structured-light vision technology

Based on structured-light vision measurement technology, we study a measuring method for microdiameter. The measurement principle and mathematical model are described. A novel grayscale barycenter extraction algorithm along the radial direction is proposed, which can precisely gather the image coor- dinates of the ellipse-shaped light-stripe centers. The accuracy of the measurement result shows marked improvement by using the algorithm. The method executes circle fitting to the measured three-dimensional （3D） data using linear least square method, which can acquire the diameter, surface profile, and other information of the object effectively. On the scene, a line-structured light vision system using the presented method is applied to measure the curvature radius of metal blades. Experimental results show that the measurement precision of the system is higher than 2 μm.

MEASUREMENT OF ANGULAR VIBRATION AMPLITUDE BY ACTIVELY BLURRED IMAGES

A novel motion-blur-based method for measuring the angular amplitude of a high-frequency rotational vibration is schemed. The proposed approach combines the active vision concept and the mechanism of motion-from-blur, generates motion blur on the image plane actively by extending exposure time, and utilizes the motion blur information in polar images to estimate the angular amplitude of a high-frequency rotational vibration. This method obtains the analytical results of the angular vibration amplitude from the geometric moments of a motion blurred polar image and an unblurred image for reference. Experimental results are provided to validate the presented scheme.

A novel virtual four-ocular stereo vision system based on single camera for measuring insect motion parameters

A novel virtual four-ocular stereo measurement system based on single high speed camera is proposed for measuring double beating wings of a high speed flapping insect. The principle of virtual monocular system consisting of a few planar mirrors and a single high speed camera is introduced. The stereo vision measurement principle based on optic triangulation is explained. The wing kinematics parameters are measured. Results show that this virtual stereo system not only decreases system cost extremely but also is effective to insect motion measurement.

GUIDELESS SPATIAL COORDINATE MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY BASED ON CODING POLE

A new method of guideless spatial coordinate measurement technology based on coding pole and vision measurement is proposed. Unequal spacing of bar code is adopted to pole, so that the code combination of pole image in measuring field is unique. Holographic characteristics of numeric coding pole are adopted to obtain pole pose and pole probe position by any section of bar code on the pole. Spatial coordinates of measuring points can be obtained by coordinate transform. The contradiction between high resolution and large visual field of image sensor is resolved, thereby providing a new concept for surface shape measurement of large objects with high precision. The measurement principles of the system are expounded and mathematic model is established. The measurement equation is evaluated by simulation experiments and the measurement precision is analyzed. Theoretical analysis and simulation experiments prove that this system is characterized by simple structure and wide measurement range. Therefore it can be used in the 3-dimentional coordinate measurement of large objects.

Visual interactive image clustering:a target-independent approach for configuration optimization in machine vision measurement

Machine vision measurement(MVM)is an essential approach that measures the area or length of a target efficiently and non-destructively for product quality control.The result of MVM is determined by its configuration,especially the lighting scheme design in image acquisition and the algorithmic parameter optimization in image processing.In a traditional workflow,engineers constantly adjust and verify the configuration for an acceptable result,which is time-consuming and significantly depends on expertise.To address these challenges,we propose a target-independent approach,visual interactive image clustering,which facilitates configuration optimization by grouping images into different clusters to suggest lighting schemes with common parameters.Our approach has four steps:data preparation,data sampling,data processing,and visual analysis with our visualization system.During preparation,engineers design several candidate lighting schemes to acquire images and develop an algorithm to process images.Our approach samples engineer-defined parameters for each image and obtains results by executing the algorithm.The core of data processing is the explainable measurement of the relationships among images using the algorithmic parameters.Based on the image relationships,we develop VMExplorer,a visual analytics system that assists engineers in grouping images into clusters and exploring parameters.Finally,engineers can determine an appropriate lighting scheme with robust parameter combinations.To demonstrate the effiectiveness and usability of our approach,we conduct a case study with engineers and obtain feedback from expert interviews.

Employment of predictive search algorithm in digital image correlation

A predictive search algorithm to estimate the size and direction of displacement vectors was presented.The algorithm decreased the time of calculating the displacement of each pixel.In addition,the updating reference image scheme was used to update the reference image and to decrease the computation time when the displacement was larger than a certain number.In this way,the search range and computational complexity were cut down,and less EMS memory was occupied.The capability of proposed search algorithm was then verified by the results of both computer simulation and experiments.The results showed that the algorithm could improve the efficiency of correlation method and satisfy the accuracy requirement for practical displacement measuring.

Estimate pose deviation of on-orbit deployable mechanisms based on cross-ratio invariability

With the rapid development of space science projects,large deployable mechanisms have been widely used.However,due to the effects of mechanical friction and gravitational acceleration,on-orbit mechanisms cannot be always deployed to the expected pose.For some precision optical mechanisms,even a minor deviation can result in significant error,so it needs to be measured and corrected.In this paper,the deployment process was modeled and simplified as rotation under single-rotation-axis constraint and translation under single-direction constraint.To solve the problem,a method based on cross-ratio invariability was proposed.The proposed method does not rely on camera calibration techniques,as well as artificial marking points,both of which are necessary in PnP.Instead,only three calibration images before launch and a measurement image on orbit were required.Simulations and experiments demonstrated that the proposed method is more accurate than PnP.In addition,experiments also proved that the feasibility of the proposed method under dark conditions with the aid of a light source and some reflective marking points.

A Method for Determining Surface Free Energy of Bamboo Fiber Materials by Applying Fowkes Theory and Using Computer Aided Machine Vision Based Measurement Technique

The purpose of this study is to develop a standard methodology for measuring the surface free energy (SFE),and its component parts of bamboo fiber materials.The current methods was reviewed to determine the surface tension of natural fibers and the disadvantages of techniques used were discussed.Although numerous techniques have been employed to characterize surface tension of natural fibers,it seems that the credibility of results obtained may often be dubious.In this paper,critical surface tension estimates were obtained from computer aided machine vision based measurement.Data were then analyzed by the least squares method to estimate the components of SFE.SFE was estimated by least squares analysis and also by Schultz' method.By using the Fowkes method the polar and disperse fractions of the surface free energy of bamboo fiber materials can be obtained.Strictly speaking,this method is based on a combination of the knowledge of Fowkes theory. SFE is desirable when adhesion is required,and it avoids some of the limitations of existing studies which has been proposed.The calculation steps described in this research are only intended to explain the methods.The results show that the method that only determines SFE as a single parameter may be unable to differentiate adequately between bamboo fiber materials,but it is feasible and very efficient.In order to obtain the maximum performance from the computer aided machine vision based measurement instruments,this measurement should be recommended and kept available for reference.

An objective method for color vision deficiencies measurement based on visual evoked potential

The equi-luminance of color stimulus in normal subjects is characterized by L-cone and M-cone activation in retina. For the protanopes and deuternopes, only the activations of one relevant remaining cone type should be considered. The equi-luminance turning curve was established for the recorded visual evoked potentials (VEPs) of the luminance changes of the red and green color stimulus, and the position of the equi-luminance was used to define the kind and degree of color vision deficiencies. In the test of 47 volunteers we got the VEP traces and the equi-luminance turning curves, which was in accordance with the judgment by the pseudoisochromatic plate used in clinic. The method fulfills the objective and quantitative requirements in color vision deficiencies test.

Use of land's cooperative object to estimate UAV's pose for autonomous landing

The research of unmanned aerial vehicles＇（UAVs＇）autonomy navigation and landing guidance with computer vision has important signifcance.However,because of the image blurring,the position of the cooperative points cannot be obtained accurately,and the pose estimation algorithms based on the feature points have low precision.In this research,the pose estimation algorithm of UAV is proposed based on feature lines of the cooperative object for autonomous landing.This method uses the actual shape of the cooperative-target on ground and the principle of vanishing line.Roll angle is calculated from the vanishing line.Yaw angle is calculated from the location of the target in the image.Finally,the remaining extrinsic parameters are calculated by the coordinates transformation.Experimental results show that the pose estimation algorithm based on line feature has a higher precision and is more reliable than the pose estimation algorithm based on points feature.Moreover,the error of the algorithm we proposed is small enough when the UAV is near to the landing strip,and it can meet the basic requirements of UAV＇s autonomous landing.