A method of recognizing geometrically salient objects from sensed data points collected in a 3D environment includes using a sensor that collects a plurality of sensed data points each having spatial coordinate information in three dimensions x, y and z, populating a strip histogram grid having a plurality of strips, each strip having a z, dx and dy dimensions, wherein dx is a portion of an x dimension and dy is a portion of a y dimension of the strip histogram grid, by assigning each sensed data point to a strip that has x, y and z dimensions that encompass the spatial coordinate information of the respective assigned sensed data point, and segmenting the strip histogram grid into a plurality of segmented regions, each segmented region comprising one strip or a group of neighboring strips having similar attributes.