JP2774624B2 - Distance / posture measuring device for moving objects - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a manipulator constructed in space, for example, in which an imaging device such as a television camera (TV camera) or a laser radar is mounted. The present invention relates to a distance / posture measuring device for a mobile object, which is used for measuring a distance and a posture between a measurement target such as a work target from a captured image.

(Prior Art) Recently, in the field of space development, a manned space project such as a space station has been promoted, and a plan for constructing a large space structure in outer space has been promoted accordingly. In this large space structure construction project, use of a manipulator system is considered for mounting and assembling the structure. What is demanded of such a manipulator system is, in particular, to be configured so that an accurate operation can be easily performed together with its safety. In order to satisfy this requirement, it is necessary to accurately grasp the distance and posture of the measurement target, for example, the work target with respect to the manipulator.

As the distance and attitude measuring means, for example, a laser emitting device is provided on the manipulator side, a laser beam is emitted from the laser emitting device to the object to be measured, and the reflected light thereof is again a detection sensor such as a CCD provided on the manipulator side. There has been proposed a method of obtaining a relative distance and a posture between each other by performing detection.

However, in the distance / posture measuring means, unless a heavy laser emitting device or an optical system is provided, accurate measurement is difficult, so that the weight becomes heavy and the configuration becomes very complicated. There was a problem that reliability was low. The fact that the weight is heavy and the reliability is low poses a serious problem particularly in the field of space development where light weight and high reliability are required.

In addition, such a situation is not limited to the manipulator system for space, but is the same in a manipulator in a manipulator system used in a gravitational environment.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional distance / posture measuring means,
There was a problem that the reliability was low and the weight became heavy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a distance / posture measuring apparatus for a moving body which has a simple configuration, can promote weight reduction, and can realize high-accuracy measurement. The purpose is to do.

[Constitution of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides first to third measurement portions provided on a measurement object and formed at three vertexes of a right triangle, and hypotenuses of the right triangle. A target member on which a fourth measured portion formed to project from the vertex is disposed at an intermediate point of the target member, an imaging unit provided on a moving body, and imaging the target member, and an image taken by the imaging unit. Image processing means for extracting the images of the first to fourth measured parts, and vectors connecting each other by obtaining the respective centroids of the first to fourth measured parts from the images extracted by the image processing means Is calculated to detect the measured part and the fourth measured part of the right-angled vertex of the right triangle among the first to third measured parts, and obtain the inclination angle from the relationship between them and the hypotenuse of the right triangle. And the length of three vectors from the fourth measured part Calculating means for calculating the inclination angles from the ratios and calculating the relative attitude and distance between the object to be measured and the moving object from the inclination angles and the vector from the part to be measured at the right-angled vertex. It constitutes a distance / posture measuring device for use.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, the target member is provided with the first to third measured portions at the vertices of the right triangle and the fourth measured portion at the middle of the hypotenuse of the right triangle, so that the target member moves. The relative distance and posture between the body and the object to be measured are obtained by taking an image of the target member by an imaging means provided on the moving body, and using the imaged image to process the first to fourth measured portions of the target member by the image processing means. Is extracted, and the vectors connecting the respective centers of gravity are obtained by calculating the centroids of the extracted images at the first to fourth measured portions. From this vector, the measured values of the fourth measured portion and the right-angled vertices of the right triangle are measured. And the inclination angle is determined from the relationship between these and the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle.
The inclination angles are obtained from the vectors of the book, and are calculated based on these inclination angles and the vector from the fourth measured section. This realizes accurate detection of the tilt angle as well as highly accurate detection of the first to fourth measured portions in the image. Therefore, highly accurate detection of the relative distance and posture between the moving object and the measurement target can be detected over a relatively wide range.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a moving object distance / posture measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
A target member 12 which is a feature of the present invention is provided on a measurement object 11 which is arranged to face the object. As shown in FIG. 2, the target member 12 is provided on a flat plate material 12a with the first to third target portions 1 to be measured.
3a to 13c are disposed at the vertices of the right triangle. Then, the first and second measured parts 13a, 13a on the hypotenuse of the right triangle
A fourth measuring unit 13d is provided at an intermediate portion of 13b so as to protrude from the first to third measured units 13a to 13c. These first to fourth measured portions 13a to 13d are set so as to have a higher reflectance with respect to visible light and laser light than the plane of the target member 12, for example.

Further, the moving body 10 is provided with an image pickup means, for example, a television camera (hereinafter, referred to as a TV camera) 14. An image processing unit 15 is connected to the TV camera 14, and an operation unit 16 is connected to the image processing unit 15. The image processing section 15 subjects the input image signal to a process such as binarization using a threshold value, and performs first to fourth measurement sections 13a to 13d of the target member 12 as shown in FIG.
The images 17a to 17d are extracted and output to the calculation unit 16. Arithmetic unit
Reference numeral 16 denotes a first to a fourth measurement target from the input images 17a to 17d.
The respective centers of gravity of 13a to 13d are obtained by a so-called centroid method or the like, a vector connecting the centers of gravity is calculated, and a relative distance and a posture between the moving body 10 and the measurement target 11 are calculated as described later, and are not illustrated. Output to the display and display.

In the above configuration, when an image captured by the TV camera 14 is input to the image processing unit 15, the image processing unit 15
The images 17a to 17d of the measured parts 13a to 13d are extracted, and the image data is output to the arithmetic unit 16. The calculation unit 16 calculates the image 17a
When the data of ~ 17d are inputted, the calculation is started in step S1 as shown in Fig. 3, and the respective centers of gravity of the images 17a ~ 17d of the first to fourth measured parts 13a ~ 13d extracted in step S2. Is calculated as described above, and five vectors (or six vectors) connecting the centers of gravity of these images 17a to 17d are calculated. In step S3, the fourth measured part 13d among these vectors is connected. Two (or three) vectors having similar directions are selected from the vectors. Then, in step S4, the part to be measured that is not connected to the selected two vectors (or three vectors) is determined as the third part to be measured 13c of the right-angled vertex of the right triangle and connected. The measured part is determined as the first and second ratio-measured parts 13a and 13b having the upper vertices of the hypotenuse. Then, in step S5, the third measured part 13c and the first and second measured parts having the upper vertices of the hypotenuse are determined. An inclination angle is obtained from the relationship between the parts 13a and 13b and the hypotenuse. Next, in step S6, the fourth measured part
The inclination angle is obtained from the ratio of the lengths of the two vectors from 13d, the inclination angle obtained in steps S5 and S6 in step S7, the relative distance between the two vectors from the fourth measured section 13d and The posture is calculated, and the process ends in step S8. And
The calculation unit 16 outputs the calculated distance and posture data to the display unit (not shown) and displays the data.

The image 17d of the fourth measured part 13d among the images 17a to 17d extracted in step S2 is different from the first to third measured parts 13a to 13c in the fourth measured part 13d. The projections are formed on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle as shown in FIG. 3 (a) according to the relative inclination angle between them, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (b). May not be positioned on the hypotenuse, such as within a right triangle. Therefore, the number of vectors calculated in step S2 is, in the state of FIG. 3A, ▲, ▼, ▼, ▼, ▲ connecting the first to fourth measured parts 13a to 13d.
There are five lines of ▼, and in the state of FIG.
▼ 、 ▲ ▼ 、 ▲ ▼ 、 ▲ ▼ 、 ▲ ▼ '6
There will be a book.

As described above, in the moving object distance / posture measuring apparatus, the first to third measured portions 13a to 13c are disposed at the vertices of the right triangle, and the fourth measured portion is located at the middle of the hypotenuse of the right triangle. The target member 12 provided with the measurement unit 13d is provided on the measurement target 11,
The target member 11 is photographed by the TV camera 14 provided on the moving body 10, and the images 17a to 17d of the first to fourth measured portions 13a to 13d of the target member 12 are extracted from the photographed image and extracted. The centroids of the obtained images 17a to 17d are obtained, and the vectors to be connected to these centroids are used to determine the fourth measured part 13d and the third right-angled vertex of the right triangle
And the inclination angle is determined from the relationship between these and the oblique side of the right triangle, and the fourth measurement object 13d
From the three vectors from, and the relative distance and posture are calculated based on these inclination angles and the vector from the fourth measured section 13d. According to this,
It is simpler than the image, and accurately the first to fourth measured parts 13
In addition to detecting the arrangement positions of a to 13d, accurate measurement of the tilt angle is realized, and high-precision measurement of the relative distance and posture between the moving body 10 and the measurement target 11 is performed over a relatively wide range. Can be implemented. Further, according to this, the configuration can be simplified as compared with a conventional apparatus provided with a laser beam emitting device and a reflected light receiving device, and the weight can be reduced as much as possible.

The present invention can also be applied to various objects such as space vehicles and vehicles on the ground, for example, as moving objects, and the relative distance and attitude of these moving objects and target objects as measurement objects. Can be configured to measure.

Therefore, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the distance and posture for a moving object can be simplified, the weight can be promoted, and highly accurate measurement can be realized. A measuring device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a distance / posture measuring device for a moving object according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a target member of FIG. 1 taken out, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram shown for explaining the operation, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart shown for explaining the operation of the calculation unit in FIG. 10: Moving object, 11: Object to be measured, 12: Target member, 12
a ... plate material, 13a to 13d ... first to fourth measured parts, 14
…… TV camera, 15 …… Image processing unit, 16 …… Calculation unit, 17a
~ 17d ... image.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first object is provided on an object to be measured, and a first to third measured portions formed at three vertices of a right triangle and a midpoint between oblique sides of the right triangle are formed so as to protrude from the vertices. A target member on which the four measurement units are disposed; an imaging unit provided on the moving body for imaging the target member; and images of the first to fourth measurement units based on images taken by the imaging unit. An image processing unit to be extracted, and the first to fourth images are extracted from the image extracted by the image processing unit.
A vector connecting each other is calculated by calculating the respective positions of the centers of gravity of the measured parts, and the measured part and the fourth measured part of the right-angled vertex of the right triangle among the first to third measured parts are determined. Then, the inclination angle is obtained from the relationship between these and the hypotenuse of the right triangle, and the inclination angle is obtained from the length ratio of the three vectors from the fourth measured part. A distance / posture measuring apparatus for a moving object, comprising: calculating means for calculating a relative posture / distance between the object to be measured and the moving object from a vector from a measuring unit.