Planar patch extraction with noisy depth data

This paper presents an algorithm for extracting planar patches by integrating both intensity and range data provided by a stereo system. For dealing with noisy and sparse range data, the initial segmentation is based on intensity information, and then the resulted regions are thresholded using depth data. This new algorithm, different from the existing ones that use only range data in the segmentation process, produces accurate planar patches that are then used for building a panoramic image-based model for mobile robot navigation