Perception

Camera Calibration

Camera calibration is the estimation of a camera's intrinsic parameters (focal length, principal point, lens distortion) and often its extrinsic pose relative to another frame, typically by observing a known pattern such as a checkerboard or ChArUco board from multiple views. Zhang's method (2000) is the standard planar-target algorithm implemented in OpenCV. Calibration enables metric 3D reconstruction, undistortion, and consistent projection between image and world coordinates.

Why it matters for physical AI

Policies that consume RGB or depth images inherit any calibration error as systematic bias in perceived geometry, which is especially damaging for precise manipulation and for fusing multi-camera observations into a shared workspace frame.