Low-cost and Retrofittable Pose Estimation of Rigid Objects Using Infrared Markers

Abstract We present a system for the 6-DOF pose estimation of rigid objects which can be used for tool tracking in manual manufacturing applications like quality assurance or assembly assistance. To be practical and widely adaptable, the system must be low-cost, passive, impact resistant, retrofittable and applicable to arbitrary rigid objects. Therefore we attach circular markers of retroreflective self-adhesive film to relevant objects. A stereo camera system with IR illumination tracks the 3D positions of these markers and uses known marker constellations to estimate the object pose. Additionally a simple teach-in procedure which learns marker constellations of new objects is presented.