Pseudostereo-Vision System: A Monocular Stereo-Vision System as a Sensor for Real-Time Robot Applications

In this paper, the design and the construction of a new system for stereo vision using planar mirrors and a single camera are presented. Equations giving the coordinates of a point in space are provided. In these equations, refraction phenomena due to the beam splitter used have been taken into consideration. Two virtual cameras are created from this pseudostereo-vision system with exactly the same geometric properties, parameters, and angular field of view of the real camera. Two superimposed stereo images are simultaneously received as a complex image. This vision system has no moving parts, its construction is quite simple, and it is mechanically robust and cheap. It can be used for accurate measurements in the same way as binocular stereo-vision systems. It is easy to mount this system on the end effector of a robotic manipulator or on a mobile robot for real-time applications. Using fast algorithms for point correspondence and depth calculation on a simple personal computer, it can be used in high-speed, low-cost, and high-accuracy applications.