Calibrating setups with a single-point laser range finder and a camera

Abstract

The combination of a cheap single-point laser range finder (LRF) device and cameras has become increasingly useful in recent research and industrial applications. While the single dot laser range finder can only provide depth for a single pixel in the observed image, it's cost and size can be useful for handheld devices or very lightweight robotic platforms. In this work, we propose two accurate calibration methods for determining the position and direction of the laser range finder with respect to the camera. Notably, we can determine the full calibration, even without observing the laser range finder observation point in the camera image. We evaluate both methods on synthetic and real data demonstrating their efficiency and good behavior under noise.