Sensor Planning for Object Pose Estimation and Identification

This paper proposes a novel approach to sensor planning for simultaneous object identification and 3D pose estimation. We consider the problem of determining the next-best-view for a movable sensor (or an autonomous agent) to identify an unknown object from among a database of known object models. We use an information theoretic approach to define a metric (based on the difference between the current and expected model entropy) that guides the selection of the optimal control action. We present a generalized algorithm that can be used in sensor planning for object identification and pose estimation. Experimental results are also presented to validate the proposed algorithm.