Object Detection inside Virtual Cylindrical Screen using Optical Flow from Wide Angle Foveated Optical System.

Abstract

A wide angie high distortion lens system has been developed to realize a foveated visual information optically. The lens system has several advantages in the application of the central vision and the peripheral vision, and it enables multi-purpose use based on the image from a single camera. This paper introduces a new concept of Virtual Cylindrical Screen to detect objects in the front scene, and proposes a method of monocular motion vision, based on the optical flow between the sequential images, to detect stationary objects existing inside the Virtual Cylindrical Screen. For a moving robot it is important to recognize quickly the object in the front. The comparisons between the special lens system and a pinhole camera are carried out with respect to the characteristics of the proposed method. The basic experimental results also prove that the proposed method is effective.