Fast and Robust Registration and Calibration of Depth-Only Sensors

Abstract

The precise registration between multiple depth cameras is a crucial prerequisite for many applications. Previous techniques frequently rely on RGB or IR images and checkerboard targets for feature detection, partly due to the depth data being inherently noisy. This limitation prohibits the usage for use-cases where neither is available. We present a novel registration approach that solely uses depth data for feature detection, making it more universally applicable while still achieving robust and precise results. We propose a combination of a custom 3D registration target - a lattice with regularly-spaced holes - and a feature detection algorithm that is able to reliably extract the lattice and its features from noisy depth images.