Object distance estimation based on stereo vision and color segmentation with region matching

Abstract

Human vision system relies on stereovision to determine object distance in the 3-D world. Human vision system achieves this by first locating the objects, then matching the corresponding objects seen by the left and right eyes, and finally using triangulation to estimate the object distance. Inspired by the same concept, this paper presents a depth estimation method based on stereo vision and color segmentation with region matching in CIE Lab color space. Firstly, an automatic seeded region growing approach for color segmentation in perceptually uniform color space was proposed. Then color region matching method was implemented after color segmentation. Thereafter, 3D reprojection method was employed to calculate depth distances. Experimental results are included to validate the proposed concept for object distance estimation. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.