System and method of determining object pose

A system that determines a pose of an object of interest at a run time, comprising:

• an image capture system operable to capture a first image of a first structured light pattern projected onto a first local surface of the object of interest and operable to capture a second image of a second structured light pattern projected onto a second local surface of the object of interest;
• a structured light source system operable to project the first structured light pattern onto the first local surface and operable to project the second structured light pattern onto the second local surface;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the image capture system and the structured light source system, and operable to:
• determine a first run-time data set from the captured first image, wherein the first run-time data set corresponds to information determined from the first structured light pattern projected onto the first local surface;
• determine a second run-time data set from the captured second image, wherein the second run-time data set corresponds to information determined from the second structured light pattern projected onto the second local surface;
• compare the determined first run-time data set and a corresponding first reference data set, the first reference data set corresponding to an ideal pose of the first local surface on an ideally posed reference object, to determine at least a first degree of constraint corresponding to the pose of the first local surface;
• and
• compare the determined second run-time data set and a corresponding second reference data set, the second reference data set corresponding to the ideal pose of the second local surface on the ideally posed reference object, to determine at least a second degree of constraint corresponding to the pose of the second local surface.

A system that determines a pose of an object of interest at a run time, comprising:

• means for capturing at least one image of each of a plurality of local surfaces on the object of interest in an unknown pose at the run time, wherein each of the local surfaces of the object of interest in the unknown pose has a structured light pattern projected thereon, and wherein each one of the local surfaces of the object of interest in the unknown pose corresponds to one of a plurality of reference local surfaces;
• means for determining a plurality of run-time data sets, wherein one run-time data set is determined for each one of the plurality of local surfaces, and wherein the plurality of run-time data sets corresponds to information determined from the structured light pattern projected onto its respective local surface;
• and
• means for comparing the determined run-time data sets and a plurality of corresponding reference data sets.