Combining Plane Estimation with Shape Detection for Holistic Scene Understanding

Structural scene understanding is an interconnected process wherein modules for object detection and supporting structure detection need to co-operate in order to extract cross-correlated information, thereby utilizing the maximum possible information rendered by the scene data. Such an inter-linked framework provides a holistic approach to scene understanding, while obtaining the best possible detection rates. Motivated by recent research in coherent geometrical contextual reasoning and object recognition, this paper proposes a unified framework for robust 3D supporting plane estimation using a joint probabilistic model which uses results from object shape detection and 3D plane estimation. Maximization of the joint probabilistic model leads to robust 3D surface estimation while reducing false perceptual grouping. We present results on both synthetic and real data obtained from an indoor mobile robot to demonstrate the benefits of our unified detection framework.