A robotic system includes a robot having an associated workspace; a vision sensor constructed to obtain a 3D image of a robot scene including a workpiece located in the workspace; and a control system communicatively coupled to the vision sensor and to the robot. The control system is configured to execute program instructions to filter the image by segmenting the image into a first image portion containing substantially only a region of interest within the robot scene, and a second image portion containing the balance of the robot scene outside the region of interest; and by storing image data associated with the first image portion. The control system is operative to control movement of the robot to perform work, on the workpiece based on the image data associated with the first image portion.