Assessment of next-best-view algorithms performance with various 3D scanners and manipulator

The problem of calculating three dimensional (3D) sensor position (and orientation) during the digitization of real-world objects (called next best view planning or NBV) has been an active topic of research for over 20 years. While many solutions have been developed, it is hard to compare their quality based only on the exemplary results presented in papers. We implemented 13 of the most popular NBV algorithms and evaluated their performance by digitizing five objects of various properties, using three measurement heads with different working volumes mounted on a 6-axis robot with a rotating table for placing objects. The results obtained for the 13 algorithms were then compared based on four criteria: the number of directional measurements, digitization time, total positioning distance, and surface coverage required to digitize test objects with available measurement heads.