An Adaptive Data Representation for Robust Point-Set Registration and Merging

Abstract: This paper presents a framework for rigid point-set registration and merging using a robust continuous data representation. Our point-set representation is constructed by training a one-class support vector machine with a Gaussian radial basis function kernel and subsequently approximating the output function with a Gaussian mixture model. We leverage the representation's sparse parametrisation and robustness to noise, outliers and occlusions in an efficient registration algorithm that minimises the L2 distance between our support vector--parametrised Gaussian mixtures. In contrast, existing techniques, such as Iterative Closest Point and Gaussian mixture approaches, manifest a narrower region of convergence and are less robust to occlusions and missing data, as demonstrated in the evaluation on a range of 2D and 3D datasets. Finally, we present a novel algorithm, GMMerge, that parsimoniously and equitably merges aligned mixture models, allowing the framework to be used for reconstruction and mapping.