Vision

This NewScientist.com article takes a look at a radar helmet which could steer rescuers through smoke. From the article: "Rescue workers must sometimes navigate smoke-filled and unfamiliar buildings. But helmets packed with sensors and software designed to give robots a sense of direction could build instant maps to help with a mission.

A technique called simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) gives robots a version of the human ability to build up mental maps of an area as it is explored. The technique can be useful to, for example, let robotic cars navigate on unfamiliar streets.

As a robot moves, distance sensors and cameras measure and record the distances to surrounding objects, making it possible to build a detailed and accurate map of the area.

This NewScientistTech article reports that mimicking the curves of a human retina has enabled a digital image sensor to take wide-angle pictures without distortion. From the article: "This is possible thanks to an improved method of transferring silicon sensors onto a curved surface.

The electronic eyeball design can allow small cameras to capture wide-angle views with low distortion. That could be useful in a range of situations, from policing, to attaching cameras to wildlife.

This NewScientistTech article reports a software developed in the US can perceive moving images in much the same way a cat's brain does. From the article: "The researchers hope the work will one day lead to implants that make it possible for people to see without an optic nerve.

Researchers at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, were motivated by the fact that, until now, models of the way brains respond to visual input used simple images like dots, bars and grids. They are typically unable to cope with the complex scenes a human would usually see.

This NewScientistTech article reports two consumer digital cameras, some fishing line and a spot of number crunching have made it possible for researchers to track the 3D positions of more than 2000 individual starlings flying in a single tightly-packed flock. From the article: "Previously, scientists could only work out the positions of tens of birds at any one time. Unveiling the secrets of such complex group behaviour could have applications in economics.

Because of the difficulties in tracking individual birds in large flocks, biologists have instead used computer simulations to study flocking.

A stereoscopy.com article reports 21st Century 3D announced a new addition to its line up of digital stereoscopic motion picture cameras. From the article: "At a time when 3D production is booming and major studios are calling for more live action 3D camera equipment, the 3DP2 arrives as a new live action 3D camera system that shoots high definition stereoscopic images directly to solid-state memory. The 3DP2 is 21st Century 3D's first system to be developed in the beam splitter configuration. Utilizing an optical beam splitting glass element, two cameras are mounted perpendicular to one another on either side of the glass. This arrangement allows for a variable interocular spacing, ranging from 0" – 4". The operator can dynamically adjust the 3DP2's depth settings during a shot to vary the intensity of the 3D effect.

This ScienceDaily article reports Stanford electronics researchers are developing a multi-aperture image sensor (a camera with thousands of tiny lenses) for generating high precision depth maps. From the article: The camera you own has one main lens and produces a flat, two-dimensional photograph, whether you hold it in your hand or view it on your computer screen. On the other hand, a camera with two lenses (or two cameras placed apart from each other) can take more interesting 3-D photos.

But what if your digital camera saw the world through thousands of tiny lenses, each a miniature camera unto itself" You'd get a 2-D photo, but you'd also get something potentially more valuable: an electronic "depth map" containing the distance from the camera to every object in the picture, a kind of super 3-D.

This NewScientistTech article takes a look at a new system using a camera to detect blood moving under the fingernail which can make almost any object touch sensitive. From the article: "Pressure-sensitive touch interfaces are common, but they usually require a smooth surface, with sensors on or beneath its surface. This is fine for simple and robust devices such as laptop touchpads, but it makes adding touch-sensitivity to irregular or fragile objects practically impossible.

However, a new system developed at the University of Nottingham, UK, can do just that. Unlike other systems, it detects the effect of touch on the finger, not the surface being touched. It works by using a simple video camera to observe the movement of blood under a person's fingernails.

Contrasting colours

A Stereoscopy.com article reports a technology invented by scientists from The Johns Hopkins University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev can make three-dimensional imaging quicker, easier, less expensive and more accurate. From the article: "This new technology, dubbed FINCH, for Fresnel incoherent correlation Holography, could have implications in medical applications such as endoscopy, ophthalmology, CT scanning, X-ray imaging and ultrasounds, co-inventor Gary Brooker said. It may also be applicable to homeland security screening, 3D photography and 3D video, he said.

This Engineer Online article reports the 3D reconstruction of a face from a single 2D image could be made faster and more accurate with new software being developed by scientists at York University. From the article: "Dr William Smith, a lecturer in computer vision at York, aims to combine the advantages of two face-recognition techniques to challenge the most advanced method for recovering 3D shapes when there is only one image to work from, such as an image from a CCTV camera. One of the techniques, which is also the most sophisticated, uses a morphable statistical model of facial appearance, while the approach that Smith has been working on uses classical shape-from-shading techniques.

The statistical approach works by taking a model and adjusting parameters to try to fit the model to an image.

This Science Daily article reports engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. From the article: "Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes -- visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go.