Segmentation of range data for the automatic construction of models of articulated objects

We consider the problem of automatically constructing geometric models of articulated objects from example range data. The problem of automatic model construction has been investigated in some depth for rigid objects but these do not extend easily to the articulated case. The problem arises because of the need to register surface measurements taken from different viewpoints into a common reference frame. Registration algorithms generally assume that an object does not change shape from one view to the next but when building a model of an articulated object it is necessary for the modes of articulation to be present in the example data. To avoid this problem we propose that raw surface data of articulated objects is first segmented into rigid subsets which correspond to rigid subcomponents of the object. This allows a model of each subcomponent to be constructed using the conventional approach and a final, articulated model to be constructed by assembling each of the subcomponent models.