Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.

Haisong Gu

Tomoharu Nakahara

Hidekazu Araki

Hiroyuki Fujii

A 3-dimensional object recognition method, by use of which three-dimensional position and posture of an object can be accurately recognized at high speed, comprises the steps of (A) taking a pair of first and second images for making a stereo image of the object; (B) detecting a two-dimensional feature of the object on each of the first and second images; (C) evaluating a degree of reliability of the result of the step (B) by comparing with a model data of the object; (D) making a correspondence of the two-dimensional feature between the first and second images according to a stereoscopic measurement principle; (E) evaluating a degree of reliability of the result of the step (D) by comparing the two-dimensional feature detected on the first image with the corresponding two-dimensional feature detected on the second image; (F) recognizing the three-dimensional position and posture of the object according to information in three dimensions of the two-dimensional feature obtained by the correspondence; and (G) evaluating a degree of reliability of the recognized three-dimensional position and posture. It is preferred to use the 3-dimensional object recognition method to a bin-picking system for picking up an article from a bin, in which a plurality of articles are heaped up in confusion, and carrying the picked-up article to a required position.

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Suita, Japan

Haisong Gu