Pose Estimation of an Object from X-ray Images Based on Principal Axis Analysis

1. Introduction Pose estimation of a three dimensional object has been studied in robot vision area, and it is needed in a number of industrial applications such as process monitoring and control, assembly and PCB inspection. In this research, we propose a new pose estimation method based on principal axes analysis. Here, it is assumed that the locations of x-ray source and the image plane are predetermined and the object geometry is known. To this end, we define a dispersion matrix of an object, which is a discrete form of inertia matrix of the object. It can be determined here from a set of x-ray images, at least three images are required. Then, the pose information is obtained fro...