Self-calibration method for a robotic based 3D scanning system

This paper describes a method for extrinsic sensor calibration for a 2D laser profile sensor on a robot arm used as a robot based 3D scanning system. In order to establish a relationship between the sensor measurements and the robot positions, the transformation between the robot flange and the sensor reference frame are determined. The developed calibration method is implemented as an automated self-calibration. It is based on the use of a pin as a fixed reference. The robot is aligned to the tip of the pin automatically with certain orientations. The sensor transformation is calculated based on six recorded robot positions. Finally, the accuracy of the calibration is determined with an additional robot position.