Comparison of sparse point distribution models

This paper compares several methods for obtaining sparse and compact point distribution models suited for data sets containing many variables. These are evaluated on a database consisting of 3D surfaces of a section of the pelvic bone obtained from CT scans of 33 porcine carcasses. The superior model with respect to sparsity, reconstruction error and interpretability is found to be a varimax rotated model with a threshold applied to small loadings. The models describe the biological variation in the database and are used for developing robotic tools when automating labor-intensive procedures in abattoirs.