Scene description using range data

A technique for describing scenes consisting of piles of simple but unknown objects using dense range images is discussed. The technique uses concepts such as symmetry, stability, viewpoint independence, and object solidity to hypothesize the unknown shapes and sizes of the objects. These hypotheses are analyzed using the known geometry of the range sensor to rule out the inconsistent configurations. The final result of the analysis is one or more descriptions of the 3D scene, each of which is consistent with the sensed data and with the constraints imposed by the physics of objects in contact