This system incorporates a series of steps. It begins by extracting features from both range and amplitude images to create feature maps and then fusing these feature maps into a single edge map. It ends by segmenting that edge map, fitting surfaces to the objects in the scenes, and finally generating a three-dimensional model of the scene. The feature extraction method locates both step edges and crease edges from both amplitude and range images. Fusion in the form of Bernoulli's Rule of Combination is performed on the resulting feature maps.
Image segmentation is performed using a morphological watershed algorithm.
Finally 3D planes, spheres, and cylinders are fit to regions in the segmented scene by the minimization of least-squared error process. The result is a system that can start with data from a laser range finder and produce, with virtually no user interaction, 3D models of objects in the scene. Results shown are for the reconstruction of a scene from synthetic data, as well as real range data of actual scenes in our Lab and at Oak Ridge National Labs.