Object recognition and pose determination in multisensor robotic systems

The authors describe research efforts directed towards the development of sensor-driven robotic systems for performing various inspection and manipulation tasks. Emphasis is on modules designed for analyzing vision and range sensor data for object recognition and pose estimation. The object recognition system uses a model-based approach. Pose estimation by vision sensor includes derivation of an image-to-world coordinate transformation module. Range data analysis includes modules for preprocessing, segmentation, and 3-D primitive extraction. Experiments are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the analysis modules using a laboratory-based robotic testbed