An overview of hand-eye calibration

Due to the increase in the difficulty and diversity of tasks performed by robots, robot “hand-eye” collaborative operation has attracted widespread attention. This technology is widely used in aerospace, medical, automotive, and industrial fields. Recently, hand-eye calibration technology is developing towards high precision and high intelligence. However, it has much work to be done in terms of identifying robot and camera parameters. This article introduces in detail the methods and theories involved in hand-eye calibration. According to the structure of the algorithm and the type of the optimization method, this paper summarizes the hand-eye calibration method into four steps: camera pose, mechanical claw pose, mathematical model, and error metrics. The well-known open problems about hand-eye calibration are finally stated, and some new research interests are also pointed out. The results of this review are useful for robot technicians to choose the correct parameter identification method and for researchers to determine further research areas.