Strategy and fundamental algorithms of fusing range image and intensity image for object recognition

Fusion of a range image and an intensity image is a key technology for robot vision. This paper presents (1) strategy for the fusion, and (2) some fundamental algorithms of the fusion. The characteristics of the two images are discussed and the strategy of the fusion: "detect surfaces from a range image, and edges and vertices from an intensity image; and then fuse these features in 2D or 3D space" is insisted. Algorithms of (a) classification of edges, (b) merging of 3D surfaces by an edge, and (c) measurement of 3D edges, are proposed as the fusion algorithms based on the strategy. Experiments with a sparse range image and an intensity image indicate the effectiveness of the algorithms.