Short range 3D depth sensing via multiple intensity differentiation

Realtime 3D depth sensor technologies, as manifested in several consumers´ electronics products, have potential for a technological breakthrough in various robotic applications. Depth sensing of human body motions can promote intuitive gesture inputs for natural HMI (Human Machine Interface) as well as HRI (Human Robot Interaction) for various applications. In today´s industry, the dominant trends in 3D depth sensing are shifting from the traditional laser based scanning or TOF (Time of Flight) depth sensing to the intensity based Infrared 3D depth sensing mechanism. However, the majority of 3D depth sensors does not function properly in a short range due to the limit of shutter speed or light speculation resolution. In this paper, we investigate currently available mono-vision based 3D sensor technologies followed by the results of a novel short range 3D depth sensing technology via multiple intensity differentiation. Our approach is to simultaneously calculate the 3D depth and the surface angle of an object to generate high quality 3D surfaces with an illumination intensity matrix from multiply adjacent light sources.