Robotic eye-in-hand calibration by calibrating optical axis and target pattern

Robotic eye-in-hand configuration is very useful in many applications. Essential in the use of this configuration is robotic hand-eye calibration. The method proposed in this paper, calibrating the optical axis of the camera and a target pattern, creates an environment for camera calibration without using additional equipment. By using the geometric relation between the optical axis and the robot hand, calibration of the optical axis and the target pattern becomes a feasible process. The proposed method requires identification of the points intersected by the optical axis with the target pattern. Image-processing techniques for identifying these intersection points are developed and implemented by designing the target pattern with a checkerboard pattern. The accuracy issue of the proposed method is discussed. Finally, experimental results are presented to verify the proposed method.