Technologies for pan tilt unit calibration

A method for calibrating a pan tilt unit with a robot, the method comprising:

• moving a camera of the pan tilt unit about a first rotational axis of the pan tilt unit to at least three different first axis positions;
• recording a first set of positions of a monitored component of the robot in a frame of reference of the robot and a position of the camera in a frame of reference of the pan tilt unit during a period in which the monitored component is within a field of view of the camera for each of the at least three different first axis positions;
• moving the camera about a second rotational axis of the pan tilt unit to at least three different second axis positions;
• recording a second set of positions of the monitored component in the frame of reference of the robot and a position of the camera in the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit during a period in which the monitored component is within a field of view of the camera for each of the at least three different second axis positions;
• and
• determining a transformation from the frame of reference of the robot to the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit based on the first set of recorded positions, the second set of recorded positions, a first origin of the frame of reference of the robot, a second origin of the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit, a first intersection line between one or more planes generated using the first set of recorded positions and the second set of recorded positions, and a second intersection line between one or more planes generated using the at least three different first axis positions and the at least three different second axis positions.

One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a robot controller, cause the robot controller to:

• operate a camera of a pan tilt unit to move the camera about a first rotational axis of the pan tilt unit to at least three different first axis positions;
• record a first set of positions of a robot tool of a robot in a frame of reference of the robot and a position of the camera in a frame of reference of the pan tilt unit during a period in which the robot tool is within a field of view of the camera for each of the at least three different first axis positions;
• operate the camera to move the camera about a second rotational axis of the pan tilt unit to at least three different second axis positions;
• record a second set of positions of the robot tool in the frame of reference of the robot and a position of the camera in the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit during a period in which the robot tool is within a field of view of the camera for each of the at least three different second axis positions;
• and
• determine a transformation from the frame of reference of the robot to the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit based on the first set of recorded positions, the second set of recorded positions, a first origin of the frame of reference of the robot, a second origin of the frame of reference of the pan tilt unit, a first intersection line between one or more planes generated using the first set of recorded positions and the second set of recorded positions, and a second intersection line between one or more planes generated using the at least three different first axis positions and the at least three different second axis positions.