A pose of an object is estimated by first defining a set of pair features as pairs of geometric primitives, wherein the geometric primitives include oriented surface points, oriented boundary points, and boundary line segments. Model pair features are determined based on the set of pair features for a model of the object. Scene pair features are determined based on the set of pair features from data acquired by a 3D sensor, and then the model pair features are matched with the scene pair features to estimate the pose of the object.