Computer Vision

[Stuart Grimshaw <stuart@xxxxxxx>]

oreilly.linux.com has a very interesting article/tutorial on "Computer
Vision".
See it here :
http://oreilly.linux.com/pub/a/linux/2000/09/22/computer_vision.html

Basically, the story tells us that Intel have released their computer
vision API under a BSD type license. and then goes on to give a brief
tutorial. Don't worry Windows users, the tutorial is for Linux, but the
software is also available for Windows.

Reading the article immediately set me thinking, this isn't just movement
sensing, it's computer vision, getting your computer to see and react to
visual stimulae. The API comes with over 100 functions implementing the
full set of the most common algorythms used in CV, so most of the hard work
is done for you.

The HA applications for this are daunting, and breathtaking at the same
time. Here are a few I have come up with in the past few minutes :

* Open the garage doors when it sees your registration pull on to
the drive.
Easy to fool in it's simplest form, but how cool would it
be to show your mates :-)
* Open the front door when it see's your face.
You could add thumbprints for extra security.
* Controll the TV/HiFi/DVD player with hand gestures.
* It could tell you who is in each room, in true Star Trek style.

and probably many more by the time this email gets to the list.

I only wish I had the time & hardware to look at it properly. I have a
capture board, but I haven't got it working under Linux, and I think the
camera I have would be high enough quality to do the job :-(

,,,
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Stuart Grimshaw                                             sg@xxxxxxx
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