Better vision for robots

A new 3D sensor is promising to give robots the ability to observe their environment in a more natural and human-like manner.

The technology being developed by an EU-funded consortium will make it possible to apply robots in more sophisticated markets so they will play a major role in the fields of cleaning, construction, maintenance, security, health care, entertainment and personal assistance in the future.

The sensor employs 3D foveation–a digital imaging process–to significantly improve on current 3D sensor systems.

Jens T Thielemann, the technical lead of what is known as the TACO (Three-dimensional Adaptive Camera with Object Detection and Foveation) project said his group’s technology will enable significantly better, faster and cheaper 3D sensing compared to current laser scanners.

‘Through the foveation process, the sensor will provide 10 times better resolution than existing sensors with hardware enabling a 10 times size resolution,’ he said.

These 3D foveation properties are achieved by using the power of micro-mirror MEMS technology combined with time-of-flight methods in a system that is small, light-weight and easily mounted on an ordinary-sized service robot or even a robot arm.