From biokinematics to a robotic active vision system. (20th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barzilay, Ouriel; Zelnik-Manor, Lihi; Gutfreund, Yoram; Wagner, Hermann; Wolf, Alon
• Is Part Of: Bioinspiration & biomimetics. Volume 12:Number 5(2017:Oct.)
• Publication Date: 2017-09-20
• Subjects: biokinematics -- biorobotics -- active vision -- barn owls; Biomimetics -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Medical innovations -- Periodicals; Biomedical engineering -- Periodicals; 600
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/aa7728
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-3182

Abstract

Abstract: Barn owls move their heads in very particular motions, compensating for the quasi-immovability of their eyes. These efficient predators often perform peering side-to-side head motions when scanning their surroundings and seeking prey. In this work, we use the head movements of barn owls as a model to bridge between biological active vision and machine vision. The biomotions are measured and used to actuate a specially built robot equipped with a depth camera for scanning. We hypothesize that the biomotions improve scan accuracy of static objects. Our experiments show that barn owl biomotion-based trajectories consistently improve scan accuracy when compared to intuitive scanning motions. This constitutes proof-of-concept evidence that the vision of robotic systems can be enhanced by bio-inspired viewpoint manipulation. Such biomimetic scanning systems can have many applications, e.g. manufacturing inspection or in autonomous robots.