Object tracking stereoscopic camera: exploring the three-dimensional space

Abstract

[EN] The experimental analysis of three-dimensional (3D) movement is of great importance to introduce students to knowledge of the actual physical world. However, the difficulties of collecting 3Ddatamake it little suitable for beginner physics students. In this work, we propose an experiment to analyse 3D motion in stationary and rotating systems. A projectile is launched from a rotating platform. The tracking of the projectile is carried out with the assistance of a stereoscopic camera and simplified object tracking techniques. The experiment can be modelled through the well-known transformation equations between an inertial reference system and a non-inertial one with constant angular velocity. The simplicity of the method and the agreement between the experimental data and the theoretical model make the experiment accessible to undergraduate physics students. In this way, they can easily measure a 3D movement and verify its theoretical equations. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.