A noise-tolerant algorithm for robotic hand-eye calibration with or without sensor orientation measurement

An iterative algorithm for calibration of a robotic hand-eye relationship is presented. The hand-eye calibration can be performed by solving a system of homogeneous transformation equations of the form A/sub i/X=XB/sub i/, where X is the unknown sensor position relative to the robot wrist, A/sub i/ is the ith robot motion, and B/sub i/ is the ith sensor motion. Unlike existing approaches, the algorithm presented solves the kinematic parameters of X in one stage, thus eliminating error propagation and improving noise sensitivity. Furthermore, with the iterative algorithm, the parameters of X can be computed even when the rotational part of B/sub i/ is unknown. This is important since position is easier to measure than orientation. Comparative simulation studies show that the performance of the iterative algorithm is usually better than that of noniterative two-stage algorithms, regardless of whether the orientation part of B/sub i/ is used or not. This paper also discusses the application of the proposed method to calibration of a tool mounted on a robot manipulator.>