Robust Range Finder Through a Laser Pointer and a Webcam

Currently, there is a great interest in the study of three-dimensional reconstruction from digital images. The applications of photogrammetric algorithms has allowed us significant improvements in procedures of camera calibration, movement of objects in scenes, shape from shading and range images. The procedure of the distance estimation from simple images is important to find the depth measurements in any procedure of three-dimensional reconstruction of scenes. In this work, we describe an adaptation of a scanner prototype based on a laser pointer and a webcam. It was applied to the robust estimation of absolute distance on images obtained from real time video sequences. Experimental tests were performed in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the distance calculation in real time through a geometric model and a simple system of linear regression. From a wide data set of tests with different scanning parameter, good results on range finding were obtained.