Projection mapping onto multiple objects using a projector robot

Even though the popularity of projection mapping continues to increase and it is being implemented in more and more settings, most current projection mapping systems are limited to special purposes, such as outdoor events, live theater and musical performances. This lack of versatility arises from the large number of projectors needed and their proper calibration. Furthermore, we cannot change the positions and poses of projectors, or their projection targets, after the projectors have been calibrated. To overcome these problems, we propose a projection mapping method using a projector robot that can perform projection mapping in more general or ubiquitous situations, such as shopping malls. We can estimate a projector’s position and pose with the robot’s self-localization sensors, but the accuracy of this approach remains inadequate for projection mapping. Consequently, the proposed method solves this problem by combining self-localization by robot sensors with position and pose estimation of projection targets based on a 3D model. We first obtain the projection target’s 3D model and then use it to accurately estimate the target’s position and pose and thus achieve accurate projection mapping with a projector robot. In addition, our proposed method performs accurate projection mapping even after a projection target has been moved, which often occur in shopping malls. In this paper, we employ Ubiquitous Display (UD), which we are researching as a projector robot, to experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method.