Envisioning Robots with Eyes of a Fly

Posted 10 May 2008 at 22:50 UTC by Rog-a-matic

Fiberoptic vision sensors developed by the Naval Air Warfare Center and the University of Wyoming, inspired by the eye structure of the common houseflies, might improve operation of future robots. The analog eyes along with their parallel processing system are very good at locating edges of tiny objects, and creating a view of the object even beyond the resolution of the detectors. As the object moves across the sensor, edge transitions effectively adds resolution to the information. Applications for the sensor with its 1mm ball lens include medical, industrial, defense, and commercial robots.