Toward Robotic Nuclear Decommissioning: Deep Learning–Based Object Classification and Pose Estimation from Partial-View Scans

This study introduces a novel framework for the robotic decommissioning of nuclear facilities, that focuses on object classification and six degrees of freedom pose estimation from partial-view three-dimensional (3-D) scan data. Addressing the challenge of precise robotic manipulation in environments where acquiring full-scan data is impractical, this framework leverages a deep neural network for initial pose estimation, subsequently refined by a modified iterative closest point algorithm. Our method demonstrates high accuracy in identifying scanned objects and estimating their poses from partial-view scans, validated through experiments with 3-D printed mock-ups. This advancement highlights the potential for significantly enhancing robotic automation in nuclear decommissioning and related fields.