Robust and real-time motion capture of rigid bodies based on stereoscopic vision

This paper presents a stereoscopic vision system developed to measure the motion of rigid bodies in real-time along its six degrees of freedom (6DOF). The idea was to use it in the measurement of the motions of a full-scale oil tanker moored at the oil terminal of the Port of Leixoes, Portugal, in the scope of an R&D project. Prior to its installation on site the system was tested and validated in laboratory. For that, use was made of ongoing physical model tests of the behaviour of a moored oil tanker (scale 1/100). To analyse its accuracy the results obtained with the developed system were compared with a commercial motion capture system built for “in house” applications.