Recognizing Articulated Objects in Range Images Using Invariants

Abstract

Articulated targets such as tanks can have many degrees of freedom, in addition to the unknown variables of viewpoint. Recognizing such a target in an image can involve a search in a high-dimensional space that involves all these unknown variables. In this project we use invariance to reduce this search space to a manageable size. Our method avoids feature detection for improved robustness. This is done by dealing with large parts of the visible object as wholes rather than with individual features. More specifically, we define a grid on the image, and draw a sphere around each grid point. We fit a 3D quadric to the object part contained within the sphere. We then find the Euclidean invariants of the quadric and assign them to the grid point, thus obtaining an invariant representation of the image. This is done at various scales by changing the sphere radii and grid spacing. The invariant representation is than matched against ones obtained from known models at various articulations. We apply the method to range images of objects such as backhoes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA408100

Entities

People

  • Isaac Weiss
  • Manjit Ray

Organizations

  • University of Maryland

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  • Sensors

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  • Physics

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  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
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Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects