Camera Calibration for Reliable Object Manipulation in Care-Providing Robot FRIEND

In this paper the on-line calibration method of the care-providing robotic system FRIEND is discussed. The objective of the calibration concept is to maintain the coordinate transformations within the system up-to-date with respect to external influences for the purpose of reliable object grasping and manipulation. One of these influences, present during robotic operation, is the shattering phenomenon introduced in the design of the robotic platform, that is in the interconnections between the major components of the robot. In this work, a vision-based calibration method for coping with external influences is used for on-line updating of the necessary coordinate transformations. The performance of the calibration method is evaluated through experimental results.