The ImageMerger tool is a tool for combining images taken by a robot controlled camera:

• 4 calibration images to determine world/robot coordinates (4pt-calib)
• Logic to determine robot positioning for each subimage
• 100% driven by ExecuteCmd interface
• The tool does nothing during an inspection

Instructions for use

• Prerequisites
  • The connected camera should have camera calibration active. The calibrated images must be rotated so that pixel rows/columns are parallel to the "world" coordinate y and x axes, respectively.
• Calibration
  • Four distinct marks with known "world" positions must exist on a calibration object
  • Position the camera over each calibration mark, note the robot coordinates, and execute SET/CALIBIMAGE for each
• Setup
  • Specify the "world" coordinates to cover and required subimage overlap
• Running
  • Command GET/GRIDSIZE returns number of subimages in X and Y position
  • Loop over required subimages, execute SET/GRIDINDEX for each, then GET/ROBOT to get required robot position. Position the robot and execute SNAPSHOT
  • To create/display a partial output image, execute MERGEPARTIAL
  • When the required images are taken, execute MERGE to create the output image

Setup

[Reference - Reference system selection; not currently used]

Output image - name of image to present result

Grid calculation - parameters to determine "world" grid

• Image start - "world" coordinates for upper left corner of resulting image
• Image end - "world" coordinates for lower right corner of resulting image
• Overlap (%) - subimage overlap - may be used to fine tune image positions
• Grid size - (R/O) - number of subimages needed in X and Y position to cover "world"

Calibration

Input image details

Should be read from camera calibration. Pitch is not currently available.

• Size - (R/O) - pixels 
• Pitch - (to be R/O) - pixel size in object coordinates

Calibration positions

• Position (1-4) - world position of calibration mark
• Robot (1-4) - robot position when image was taken
• Set (1-4) - acquire image, store and calibrate if possible
• Input - name of input image for calibration images when Set buttons are pressed
• Calibrated - shows green check when calibration is completed

Blob analysis

Currently, the largest blob found in the calibration images is used as the calibration mark.

• Threshold min/max - blob threshold
• Morphology - erode/dilate
• Smooth factor (count) - blob smoothing

Calibration images

The four images are stored, visualising the result of the blob analysis.

• Delete this - delete shown calibration image
• Delete all - remove all calibration images