Symmetric object detection based on symmetry and centripetal-SIFT edge descriptor

This paper proposes a new edge descriptor named centripetal-SIFT edge descriptor. A method for symmetric object detection is presented based on symmetry and centripetal-SIFT descriptor in real unsegmented images. Our method includes three main steps: 1) The dominant symmetry axis is located based on SIFT feature point; 2) Image edge points are extracted in scale space and described by the proposed centripetal-SIFT descriptor; 3) Symmetric objects are located as the result of computing symmetric edge points. The superior performance of our method is demonstrated by experimental results under complex backgrounds.