Geometric calibration of a camera and a turntable system using two views

A calibration algorithm for a system comprising a camera and turntable is provided, in which the camera captures three-dimensional point clouds while a target object rotates on the turntable to three-dimensionally scan the entire object. A mathematical approach is used to obtain the geometry between the coordinate systems of the camera and the turntable. As a minimal setup, the camera captures two views of a chessboard calibration pattern placed on the turntable. The coordinate transformation from the camera to the turntable is then calculated through geometric reasoning. First, two camera poses are computed with respect to the chessboard images taken before and after rotation. The direction of the rotation axis of the turntable coordinate system can be calculated without any ambiguity. However, there is one degree of freedom in the choice of the other two directions and one degree of freedom in choosing the location of the origin of the turntable coordinate system. We provide a practical method for these choices. Experimental results with a stereo-vision system and a turntable validate the proposed method.