System and method for dimensioning objects using stereoscopic imaging

摘要

A method and configuration to estimate the dimensions of a cuboid. The configuration includes two image acquisition units offset from each other with at least one of the units positioned at a defined acquisition height above a background surface. Image processing techniques are used to extract a perimeter of a top surface of the cuboid, placed on the background surface, from pairs of acquired images. A height estimation technique, which corrects for spatial drift of the configuration, is used to calculate an absolute height of the cuboid. The absolute height of the cuboid is used, along with the extracted perimeter of the top surface of the cuboid, to calculate an absolute length and an absolute width of the cuboid. The height, length, and width may be used to calculate an estimated volume of the cuboid.

主权项

1. An image acquisition and processing configuration to estimate the dimensions of a package, said configuration comprising:
a primary image acquisition unit positioned at a primary acquisition location; a secondary image acquisition unit positioned at a secondary acquisition location which is offset from said primary acquisition location by a defined offset distance; a platform having a substantially horizontal top surface positioned substantially directly beneath said primary image acquisition unit such that said primary image acquisition unit is at a defined image acquisition height above said top surface of said platform; a fiducial marker positioned on said top surface of said platform; and a vision engine operatively connected to said image acquisition units and configured for:
triggering said image acquisition units to acquire at least background images of said top surface of said platform and package images of a top surface of a package placed on said top surface of said platform, wherein at least one of said images is acquired using said primary image acquisition unit and contains an imaged representation of said fiducial marker, and wherein at least one other of said images is acquired using said secondary image acquisition unit and contains an imaged representation of said fiducial marker,receiving said acquired images from said image acquisition units,processing two of said received images, each of said two images having therein an imaged representation of said fiducial marker, to determine a fiducial image shift accounting for spatial drift of said image acquisition and processing configuration, andprocessing said received images using said fiducial image shift to estimate at least a height dimension of said package.