Mathematics, Systems and Robotics Seminar 

07/12/2006, 10:00 — 11:00 — Conference Room, Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica, North Tower, 7th floor, IST
Alexandre Bernardino, José Gaspar, VisLab ISR/IST

Biologically Inspired Visual Geometries

Visual resolution of humans and animals is very different from the common constant resolution images we are used to deal with in photographs, television and computer files. In biological systems, the view field is observed in a non-uniform way, in order to optimize the allocation of neuronal resources to the animal's tasks. For instance, insects require a very enlarged view field (almost 360º) to be able to navigate in complex environments, but their visual resolution is limited. Humans instead, require a much larger resolution in order to recognize and manipulate successfuly very distinct objects. However this high resolution cannot be present in all the view field, otherwise humans would require an extremely large brain to process all the data. Therefore, the view field is more limited than insects, and resolution decays toward the periphery. In this talk we will overview two visual geometries inspired in the biological systems and applied to robotic systems. In one hand, omnidirectional vision, combining cameras and convex mirrors, tries to emulate insect vision and is used for navigation of autonomous robots. Foveal vision emulates the human retinas and is applied to the control of an humanoid robot. An interesting engineering application combines omnidirectional and foveal vision to acquire real-time panoramas of the environment.