Model free head pose estimation using stereovision

In this paper we present a stereovision based model free 3D head pose (orientation and position) estimation system suitable for human–machine interface applications. The system works by obtaining a ‘face plane’ from the 3D reconstructed face data, which is then used for head pose estimation. The key novelty in this work is the utilization of the face plane together with the eye locations on the reconstructed face data to obtain a robust head pose estimate. This approach leads to a model and initialization free head pose estimation system; therefore it is suitable for natural human–machine interfaces. In order to quantitatively asses the accuracy of the system for such applications, several evaluation experiments were conducted using a commercial motion capture system. The evaluation results indicate that this system can be used in human–computer and human–robot applications.