Developed a New Camera Inspired by the Human Eye

Developed under the leadership of a team from the University of Maryland a new camerais preparing to make a significant breakthrough in many areas where cameras are used, from our smartphones to robots. This camera, which improves the way robots see and react to the world, will also be able to perform focusing and perception processes that the human eye performs involuntarily.

“Artificial Microsaccade Enhanced Event Camera” (AMI-EV) Prototyping and testing of the camera, called ‘System’, was detailed in an article published in Science Robotics. To do this, it imitates the saccadic movements that occur in the human eye by making continuous rotational movements into the camera.

Important breakthrough for robotics

The PhD student who led the research Botao He, “Event cameras are a relatively new technology that is better than traditional cameras at tracking moving objects, but today’s event cameras struggle to capture sharp, blur-free images when there’s a lot of movement. This is a big problem because many technologies, such as robots and self-driving cars, to respond correctly to a changing environment accurate and timely images it needs. So we asked ourselves: How do humans and animals manage to focus on a moving object? he said.

The team placed inside AMI-EV rotating prism mechanism He managed to imitate microsaccades and redirect the captured rays. They then developed software to compensate for prism movement and create still images from shifted lights.

With this model, researchers robotics, defense systemsThey state that important breakthroughs can be made in many technologies such as autonomous vehicles and smartphones. In early tests, AMI-EV attracted attention with its ability to accurately capture movements and recognize shapes.