Active self-calibration of hand-mounted laser range finders

We propose a method for self-calibration of robotic hand-mounted laser range finders by means of active motion of the robot. Through range-measuring a plane of unknown position and orientation, the mounting parameters of the range finders and the coordinates of the world plane are estimated. Systematic measurement errors can also be calibrated at the same time. The approach is fully autonomous, in that no initial guesses of the unknown parameters are to be provided from the outside by humans for the solution of a set of nonlinear equations. In fact, the initial values are all found in closed forms by the algorithm itself. Sufficient conditions for a unique solution are derived in terms of controlled motion sequences. Experimental results in both a simulated and a real environments are reported.