Abstract: A new method is presented for efficient and reliable object recognition within noisy, cluttered, and occluded range images. An image is captured and quantized into cells having characteristics. A tree data structure is provided wherein each node of the tree is associated with a cell. The tree is traversed according to the characteristics of each associated cell using a best-first algorithm. When a leaf node is reached, potential object poses, types and locations associated with the leaf node are stored. Once sufficient information is stored, each potential recognized object is verified using a more reliable algorithm.

Abstract: A method for determining the 3-D pose of an object is provided assuming that an approximate pose of the object is known. As a laser range camera scans the object, depth profiles of the object are obtained and stored in a memory. Synthetic profiles are obtained from a model of the object that has been oriented to the assumed pose of the object, by using a conventional raster rendering technique to obtain a series of slices of the model. Once this synthetic profile signature of the model of the object is generated, a comparison is performed between this profile signature and the profiles obtained from the laser range camera. When a suitable match is found, a correction to the 3-D pose is calculated from the offset parameters associated with the match; further refinement may be performed by repeating the process.

Abstract: A method is provided for detecting a collision between a robot and one or more obstacles before it occurs. The robot is modeled by spheres in a voxelized workspace. Each voxel within the workspace is assigned a value which corresponds to its distance from the closest obstacle. A collision is determined to be imminent if the voxel value at the center of a sphere is less than the radius of the sphere in voxels.

Abstract: The compounds of the following general structural formula (I) ##STR1## wherein R is hydrogen or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, are .beta.-ketoacyl-coenzyme A thiolase inhibitors and are useful as antihypercholesterolemic agents for the treatment of disease in which the inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis would be useful, such as arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia and familial hypercholesterolemia.