Simple method for calibrating omnidirectional stereo with multiple cameras

Cameras can give useful information for the autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. Typically, one or two cameras are used for this task. Recently, an omnidirectional stereo vision system that can cover the whole surrounding environment of a mobile robot is adopted. They usually adopt a mirror that cannot offer uniform spatial resolution. In this paper, we deal with an omnidirectional stereo system which consists of eight cameras where each two vertical cameras constitute one stereo system. Camera calibration is the first necessary step to obtain 3D information. Calibration using a planar pattern requires many images acquired under different poses so it is a tedious step to calibrate all eight cameras. In this paper, we present a simple calibration procedure using a cubic-type calibration structure that surrounds the omnidirectional stereo system. We can calibrate all the cameras on an omnidirectional stereo system in just one shot. (C) 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.3567070]