Commercial 3-D TV

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 17

Commercial 3-D TV

A commercial three-dimen-sional television system being pioneered at Trent Polytechnic in the English Midlands could solve many problems in industry, security, and defence, reports Roger Amos of the London Press Service science staff. Dr Max Robinson, in the Polytechnic department of electronics, has developed a stereo TV camera head which closely mimics the human optical system’s abilities of convergence and accommodation, but also has other facilities such as zoom and variable camera separation, available manually or automatically. i '.’ ' ■ The cameras and monitor used are conventional monochrome or colour units, the cameras being configured into a stereo head in which images from two separate Senses are displayed alternately 6n the monitor, synchronised

with the frame frequency. The monitor is viewed through elec-tro-optic viewing spectacles which allow alternate fields or sub-fields to be viewed by alternate eyes, reconstituting in the viewer’s vision system the original stereo image. Trials have been conducted on the use of the system in the guidance of remote-controlled vehicles used for neutralising terrorist bombs. Operators of the equipment have become adept within minutes at performing delicate tasks which would not have been possible using a normal closed-circuit TV display. Now trials are being conducted using a six-axis industrial robot manipulator arm, which it is hoped might eventually make possible the remote defusing of bombs. Other/.applications exist in, for instance, the nuclear and offshore industries.

A further technique allows accurate depth measurements to be taken within the three-dimen-sional image. Powerful correction algorithms take account of distortion, both optical and electronic, inherent in the video equipment. The necessary electronics can be added to a basic three-dimensional TV system if the stereo camera head has been calibrated.

Work is also well advanced on the development of a true robot vision system which would allow robots to work without human intervention. By combining stereoscopic imaging with structured lighting, the robot system obtains within a few seconds a matrix of three-dimensional coordinates from its surroundings from, which it is,able to recognise the shape anM,orientation of simple objects. •