Free-form 3D object recognition

This paper investigates a new approach to the recognition of 3D objects of arbitrary shape. The proposed solution follows the principle of model-based recognition using geometric 3D models and geometric matching. It is an alternative to the classical segmentation and primitive extraction approach and provides a perspective to escape its difficulties to deal with free-form shapes. Using the iterative closest point matching at the heart of the recognition, we propose means to extend its use to the recognition of 3D objects obtained from range data. Examples demonstrate the feasibility of this approach to free-form recognition.