Vision-based hybrid 6-DOF displacement estimation for precast concrete member assembly

Abstract

Precast concrete (PC) members are currently being employed for general construction or partial replacement to reduce construction period. As assembly work in PC construction requires connecting PC members accurately, measuring the 6-DOF (degree of freedom) relative displacement is essential. Multiple planar markers and camera-based displacement measurement systems can monitor the 6-DOF relative displacement of PC members. Conventional methods, such as direct linear transformation (DLT) for homography estimation, which are applied to calculate the 6-DOF relative displacement between the camera and marker, have several major problems. One of the problems is that when the marker is partially hidden, the DLT method cannot be applied to calculate the 6-DOF relative displacement. In addition, when the images of markers are blurred, error increases with the DLT method which is employed for its estimation. To solve these problems, a hybrid method, which combines the advantages of the DLT and MCL (Monte Carlo localization) methods, is proposed. The method evaluates the 6-DOF relative displacement more accurately compared to when either the DLT or MCL is used alone. Each subsystem captures an image of a marker and extracts its subpixel coordinates, and then the data are transferred to a main system via a wireless communication network. In the main system, the data from each subsystem are used for 3D visualization. Thereafter, the real-time movements of the PC members are displayed on a tablet PC. To prove the feasibility, the hybrid method is compared with the DLT method and MCL in real experiments.