VisionCube: an intelligent autonomous vision device.

Abstract

The article describes the concept of an intelligent autonomous vision architecture. The main idea is to have a compact, i.e., slightly larger than a cigarette-pack, device which combines the basic features of a camera, a computer, and a controller. This means the device has downloadable functionality to read an image from a vision-chip, to process it onboard, to trigger and/or control external devices, and to transmit data if necessary. It is intended as inexpensive and extremely compact alternative to the camera-framegrabber-PC approach in applications with low to medium processing needs. The device can for example be used for surveillance. It can be programmed to trigger an alarm and a recording-function based on a change in difference images, which indicates an intrusion in the observed area. Similar and even more complex functions can be used for applications within e.g. robotics, production, and new forms of HMI. Concretely, the design-scheme of VisionCube is presented. It is base...