RECOGNITION POLYNOMIALS

This paper deals with one aspect of the problem of object recognition, viz., the recognition of configurations. A configuration is a three-dimensional arrangement of an arbitrary number of labeled feature points. We present a computationally simple method whereby a configuration can be recognized in an infinite variety of orthographic views after being seen in only one orthographic view. The method involves simply evaluating a polynomial and requires no depth coordinates of the feature points to be given or computed. The method can, in principle, lead to recognition polynomials for configurations viewed under perspective projections, but this has not yet been done.