Accuracy evaluation of methods for pose estimation from fiducial markers

Abstract

Estimating the pose from fiducial markers is a widely researched topic with practical importance for computer vision, robotics and photogrammetry. In this paper, we aim at quantifying the accuracy of pose estimation in real-world scenarios. More specifically, we investigate six different factors, which impact the accuracy of pose estimation, namely: number of points, depth offset, planar offset, manufacturing error, detection error, and constellation size. Their influence is quantified for four non-iterative pose estimation algorithms, employing direct linear transform, direct least squares, robust perspective n-point, and infinitesimal planar pose estimation, respectively. We present empirical results which are instructive for selecting a well-performing pose estimation method and rectifying the factors causing errors and degrading the rotational and translational accuracy of pose estimation.