Omnidirectional Viewing Using A Fish Eye Lens

Abstract

Vision capabilities have a significant effect on many applications of robots. The limitation of current imaging systems with regard to a limited field of view affects the performance of the robotic system. A whole world view sometimes is required and is often desirable. The general approach relies on mechanical scanning to record an entire world view; however, omnidirectional viewing by a fish eye lens can provide a full hemispherical field of view at the same instant. The development of omnidirectional vision appears to have definite advantages. The paper reviews the development of omnidirectional viewing and present the basic configuration of a fish eye lens. The projection features of omnidirectional lenses are discussed. A design of an omnidirectional robot vision system is described. The striking topics for its applications in the field of robotics, an omni-image restoration technique and an omnivision navigation technique, are briefly outlined.