SENSING STRATEGIES FOR DISAMBIGUATING AMONG MULTIPLE OBJECTS IN KNOWN POSES.

Techniques for acquiring position and surface orientation data about points on the surfaces of objects are examined, with the intent of selecting sensory points that will force a unique interpretation of the pose of the object with as few data points as possible. Under some simple assumptions about the sensing geometry, a technique for predicting optimal sensing positions is derived. The technique has been implemented and tested. To fully specify the algorithm, estimates of the error in estimating the position and orientation of the object are needed; analytical expressions for such errors are derived in the case of one particular approach to object recognition.