OBJECT RECOGNITION USING A LASER SCANNER AND FOURIER-TRANSFORM

In automated manufacturing systems an important task is to recognize d ifferent three-dimensional objects, e.g., workpieces. For this purpose we have used the fact that different objects scatter laser light from a scanner differently. To recognize the differences between the light reradiated by the objects we have used Fourier transformation. By thi s means the scanned data can be reduced to a few parameters for classi fication of the objects. This method is a rather simple and inexpensiv e way to complement other object recognition systems, e.g., in robotic applications. Both theory and verifying practical tests and results a re presented. (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical instrumentation Engine ers.