YES - YEt another object segmentation: Exploiting camera movement

Abstract

We address the problem of object segmentation in image sequences where no a-priori knowledge of objects is assumed. We take advantage of robots' ability to move, gathering multiple images of the scene. Our approach starts by extracting edges, uses a polar domain representation and performs integration over time based on a simple dilation operation. The proposed system can be used for providing reliable initial segmentation of unknown objects in scenes of varying complexity, allowing for recognition, categorization or physical interaction with the objects. The experimental evaluation on both self-captured and a publicly available dataset shows the efficiency and stability of the proposed method.