New Camera Actuator Technology Simulates Ocular Movement

A new camera motion control system developed by Ph.D. candidate Joshua Schultz from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, replicates ocular movement using piezoelectric cellular actuators (Goodwin, 2012; Rennals, 2012; Robotic camera mimics eye movement, 2012). This technology could lead to the development of more intuitive human-machine-interfaces (HMI)s between remote devices and controllers (Goodwin, 2012).  The use of piezoelectric materials facilitates finer camera movement and reduced power, which cannot be replicated using bulky servos (Cain, 2012; Robotic camera mimics eye movement, 2012). The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; NSF, 2012), was recently presented at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE; IEEE, 2012) International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics in Rome, Italy (Goodwin, 2012).

I would be interested in examining this technology for inclusion in future teleoperation or unmanned vehicle interaction research. Specifically, what the implications might be when combined with a pan and tilt gimbal or servo base, a head tracker, and an eye tracker. An ocular camera motion base system might provide additional perception fidelity for a system to establish enhanced visual interaction (i.e., telepresence) to further replicate data capture that more accurately replicates head and eye movements of a remote operator.

REFERENCES
Cain, P. (2012, August). Robotic cameras get human-like eye muscle.Wired.com. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/08/robotic-cameras-get-human-like-eye-muscle/

Goodwin, S.E. (2012, July). Robot vision: Muscle-like action allows camera to mimic human eye movement. Atlanta, GA: Research News & Publications Office, Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/muscle-like-action-mimics-human-eye-movement/

IEEE. (2012). IEEE.org [website]. Retrieved from http://www.ieee.org/index.html

NSF. (2012). National Science Foundation [website]. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/

Rennals, L. (2012, July). History of robots could change with more life-like eyeball. RedOrbit.com. Retrieved from http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112651445/history-of-robots-could-change-with-more-life-like-eyeball/

Robotic camera mimics eye movement. (2012, July). Photonics.com. Retrieved from http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=51344

Wired. (2012). Schwartz.jpg [image file]. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/rawfile/2012/08/schwartz.jpg