Image processing for pose estimation

A system for estimating a pose of a first object in relation to a second object having a visual marker comprising a plurality of ellipses, the system comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• a graphics processing unit;
• and
• an image capture device, the system being configured to:
• capture a video image of the visual marker with an image capture device;
• pre-process frames of the video image on a graphics processing unit, detect the visual marker at a first distance by:
• finding contours in the frames to identify the plurality of ellipses;
• and
• determining that a pattern of the plurality of ellipses match an existing, known pattern of the visual marker;
• obtain coordinates of two or more of the plurality of ellipses of the visual marker;
• estimate the pose of the first object in relation to the second object by inputting the coordinates of the plurality of ellipses into a pose estimation algorithm;
• filtering results of the pose estimation algorithm;
• wherein the visual marker comprises a smaller replica visual marker of itself at a center portion of the visual marker, and wherein the method further comprises:
• detecting the smaller replica visual marker at a second distance, the second distance being shorter than the first distance;
• and
• estimating the pose of the first object in relation to the smaller replica visual marker.

A non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method for estimating a pose of a first object in relation to a second object having a visual marker comprising a plurality of ellipses, the method comprising:

• capturing a video image of the visual marker with an image capture device;
• pre-processing frames of the video image on a graphics processing unit, detecting the visual marker at a first distance by:
• finding contours in the frames to identify the plurality of ellipses;
• and
• determining that a pattern of the plurality of ellipses match an existing, known pattern of the visual marker;
• obtaining coordinates of two or more of the plurality of ellipses of the visual marker;
• estimating the pose of the first object in relation to the second object by inputting the coordinates of the plurality of ellipses into a pose estimation algorithm;
• filtering results of the pose estimation algorithm;
• wherein the visual marker comprises a smaller replica visual marker of itself at a center portion of the visual marker, and wherein the method further comprises:
• detecting the smaller replica visual marker at a second distance, the second distance being shorter than the first distance;
• and
• estimating the pose of the first object in relation to the smaller replica visual marker.