The Grand Challenge: Simulating Human Vision
The human eye uses a two-part system, a peripheral system provides an overall field of vision while the foveal system provides high-quality details.Copyright 2008 Hans-Werner34 at English Wikipedia {PD} http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Double_system_e.jpg
Students are introduced to the Robotics Peripheral Vision Grand Challenge question. They are asked to write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they require in order to answer the question. They share their ideas with the class and record them. Then, students share their ideas with each other and brainstorm any additional ideas. Next, students draw a basis for the average peripheral vision of humans and then compare that range to the range of two different focal lengths in a camera. Through the associated activity, students see the differences between human and computer vision.
Robotics has a very strong connection to engineering. Two main phases are employed in making robots. The first phase is creation of the mechanical portion of the robot. This incorporates both design and implementation, which are both essential steps in every engineering field. The second phase is designing the human interfaces to interact with the robot. The key to a robot's usefulness is its software. This step is completed through programming by computer science and software engineers.
Computer vision is applicable in many areas. Computer science engineers collaborate with mechanical, electrical and other types of engineers to take digital image data and develop many different technologies, for example, x-ray images used in the medical field. A robot that "sees" could be used, for example, in unmanned vehicles or as a way to conduct visual surveillance for weather forecasting, dangerous exploration or national security. A robot meant to interact with humans would also benefit from being able to "see."
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain briefly how human eye sees.
- Explain the Grand Challenge problem.
- List what information might be needed to answer the challenge.
- Group together similar areas of knowledge needed for the challenge.
- Visualize a general idea of what the solution program should do.
- State the average range of peripheral vision for a human being.
- Explain how focal lengths of lenses affect field of view.
- Find the ratio between focal lengths and image size.
- Explain how engineers apply this information to solve problems.