Telepresence technologies rely on sensory input and an advanced graphical interface to give the user the impression that he or she is actually inside a made-up environment. The MITRE Immersive Vision System (MIVS) integrates commercial components with software created by MITRE's scientists. It uses a commercial hemispherical digital camera system and a head-mounted display. An orientation sensor, is attached to the display tracks the position of the user's head while allowing the person to move around in any direction. A wireless signal is sent from the head-tracking device to the hemispherical camera on the robot to control its position.
Applications
A vision system like MIVS would be useful in many applications. Unmanned platforms will be the primary vehicles for this research. For design purposes, MIVS represents a fast, intuitive vision system for multiple users with no blind spots and excellent field-of-view characteristics.
Benefits
The spherical camera array employed in the vision system allows for increased physical durability and multiuser/multi-region of interest support. Conventional camera systems use motors to steer the vision system. These motors have a high failure rate and tend to be expensive. The MIVS technology employs no moving parts and, as a result, is easier to ruggedize. The tiling of images into regions of interest also reduces the bandwidth required to project the composite image.
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