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 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:57 am Post subject: Octopus Eye to Silicon |
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 Octopus eyes are helping the field of robotics create eyes for future generations of robots. The new silicon chip, called the o-retina, seeks to mimic the structure and function of the eye.
This new chip is anticipated to be useful for exploring underwater environments. With this new chip, the robot won't need to have constant human attention. The chip extracts relevant information so the robot has an easier time processing its environment.
| Christian Science Monitor wrote: | | "We'd like to be able to explore new things in a more intelligent way, to have a vision system that perceives its environment and makes decisions without a human always telling it what to do," says Titus. One big challenge is figuring out how the brain uses information to understand and reconstitute an image, and then translating that process onto a chip. The octopus retina provides a simple, yet elegant visual system which, Titus says, is relatively easy to simulate in silicon. |
Currently the o-retina is limited to seeing things horizontally and vertically, it cannot see an X or a person. However, this is not a draw back for the chip since these functions may not be necessary during remote-site exploration. Future additions to the chip will include the ability to see polarized light.
 Christian Science Monitor
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