Using a zoom camera to identify object and laser to track

[william1234]

Hey

You may have seen the mosquito killing laser system from the intellectual ventures lab.

In the description of the system they say the zoom camera identifies an object (mosquito) and from that they are able to direct a green laser on it and track it.

What I am wondering is how the system is able to go from identifying an object with a camera to actually know where to point the laser. This can be up to 100 feet away !

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

 

[Floid]

You need to know a few things: the location of the camera and laser relative to each other and the ability to measure the pointing angle of the camera.

After you identify the mosquito, you measure the pointing angle of the camera. You then use a coordinate rotation matrix to calculate what the pointing angle of the laser needs to be to point at the same object at which the camera is looking.

 

[william1234]

Thank you for your answer.

But how can you come up with any angle for the laser if you don't know the distance to the object ?