Coverage-based next best view selection

Abstract

Generating 3D scans of environments and objects is an invaluable tool, which can be used in many industries. A small handheld device known as HeatWave can create a 3D environment map containing visible and thermal information. This paper discusses a system which uses a HeatWave scanner together with a robot mobile manipulator, allowing these scans to be collected without user operation. An algorithm for this system is also presented, obtaining the positions that the robot mobile manipulator must move to, to find the best view of the given object. A prior model is built up with no knowledge of the scene, and is then improved with a next best view algorithm. Results are presented from experiments undertaken in visually different scenes.