Simultaneous registration of multiple corresponding point sets

We present a new technique for the simultaneous registration of multiple corresponding point sets with rigid 3D transformations. This class of problems is a generalization of the classic pairwise point set registration task, involving multiple views with multiple correspondences existing between them. The proposed technique requires the computation of a constant matrix which encodes the point correspondence information, followed by an efficient iterative algorithm to compute the optimal rotations. The optimal translations are then recovered directly through the solution of a linear equation system. The algorithm supports weighting of data according to confidence, and we show how it may be incorporated into two robust estimation frameworks to detect and reject outlier data. We have integrated our method into a generalized multiview ICP surface matching system and tested it with synthetic and real data. These tests indicate that the technique is accurate and efficient. The algorithm also compares favorably to another multiview technique from the literature. (C) 2001 Academic Press.