Development of a small range image sensor for short distance measurement suitable for robot hands using a multi-slit laser projector

Abstract

This paper proposes a structure and a measurement method of a very small range image sensor for short distance measurement using a multi-slit laser projector. In recent years, industrial robots used in production lines have become widespread, and development of humanoid robots that operate in the same environment as humans is also proceeding. Many of these robots have an arm mechanism for gripping an object. In order to grasp an object, it is necessary to measure the distance and the object, so these robots are equipped with range image sensors. However, if the position of the range image sensor is away from the arm end, occlusion occurs by the arm during the gripping operation, and the object to be gripped cannot be measured. Therefore, a very small range image sensor that can be attached to a robot hand is required. The sensor used in this research projects multi-slit laser and measures the distance by the disparity of the detected laser light. For measurement, it is necessary to identify the number of each slit laser. Therefore, for the discrimination, the intensity information of the laser light image is used. The effectiveness of the proposed sensor is verified through short-range object measurement experiments.

Keywords

• small sensor
• range image sensor
• multi-slit laser projector
• robot hand
• image processing