Surface profile-guided scan method for autonomous 3D reconstruction of unknown objects using an industrial robot

This paper presents a novel method called surface profile-guided scan for 3D surface reconstruction of unknown objects. This method benefits from the advantages of two types of sensors: one having a wide field of view but of low resolution (type I) and the other of high resolution but with a narrow field of view (type II) for the autonomous reconstruction of highly accurate 3D models.

It employs a range sensor (type II) mounted on an industrial manipulator, a rotary stage, and a color camera (type I). No prior knowledge of the geometry of the object is required. The only information available is that the object is located on a rotary table and is within the field of view of the camera and in the working space of the industrial robot.

The camera provides a set of vertical surface profiles around the object, which are used to obtain scan paths for the range sensor. Then, the robot manipulator moves the range sensor along the scan paths. Finally, the 3D surface model is completed by detecting and rescanning holes on the surface. The quality of the surface model obtained from real objects by the proposed 3D reconstruction method proves its effectiveness and versatility.