Shape-Coded ArUco: Fiducial Marker for Bridging 2D and 3D Modalities

We introduce a fiducial marker for the registration of two-dimensional (2D) images and untextured three-dimensional (3D) shapes that are recorded by commodity laser scanners. Specifically, we design a 3D-version of the ArUco marker that retains exactly the same appearance as its 2D counterpart from any viewpoint above the marker but contains shape information. The shape-coded ArUco can naturally work with off-the-shelf ArUco marker detectors in the 2D image domain. For detection in the 3D domain, we develop a method for detecting the marker in an untextured 3D point cloud. Experiments demonstrate accurate 2D-3D registration using our shape-coded ArUco markers in comparison to baseline methods.