Robot stereo vision calibration method with genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization

Accurate stereo vision calibration is a preliminary step towards high-precision visual positioning of robot. Combining with the characteristics of genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), a three-stage calibration method based on hybrid intelligent optimization is proposed for nonlinear camera models in this paper. The motivation is to improve the accuracy of the calibration process. In this approach, the stereo vision calibration is considered as an optimization problem that can be solved by the GA and PSO. The initial linear values can be obtained in the first stage. Then in the second stage, two cameras' parameters are optimized separately. Finally, the integrated optimized calibration of two models is obtained in the third stage. Direct linear transformation (DLT), GA and PSO are individually used in three stages. It is shown that the results of every stage can correctly find near-optimal solution and it can be used to initialize the next stage. Simulation analysis and actual experimental results indicate that this calibration method works more accurate and robust in noisy environment compared with traditional calibration methods. The proposed method can fulfill the requirements of robot sophisticated visual operation.