Stable pose tracking from a planar target with an analytical motion model in real-time applications

Object pose tracking from a camera is a well-developed method in computer vision. In theory, the pose can be determined uniquely from a calibrated camera. However, in practice, most real-time pose estimation algorithms experience pose ambiguity. We consider that pose ambiguity, i.e., the detection of two distinct local minima according to an error function, is caused by a geometric illusion. In this case, both ambiguous poses are plausible, but we cannot select the pose with the minimum error as the final pose. Thus, we developed a real-time algorithm for correct pose estimation for a planar target object using an analytical motion model. Our experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm effectively reduced the effects of pose jumping and pose jittering. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach to address the pose ambiguity problem using an analytical motion model in real-time applications.