If you are lucky enough to own a cat, you have surely already witnessed its remarkable ability to follow an object or a point of light with its eyes without ever, or almost, losing sight of it. A wonderful ability that allows cats to pay attention to the smallest detail and concentrate as soon as your feet move under the duvet, for example. Well these exceptional eyes, allowing them to never lose sight of prey, will be implemented on drones according to the South Korean study published in Science Advances on September 18, 2024.
The formidable vision of tamed cats
In addition to being really cute little balls of fur, our little cats are also ferocious predators who only take their eyes off their prey if the pretext for doing so is really beneficial for them. As capable of tracking them and keeping them in sight day and night, the eyes of cats, and of felines in general, will be used to improve current drones.
Of course, it will not be a question of grafting feline eyes onto this equipment, that would obviously be barbaric. On the other hand, through study, scientists from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea have succeeded in developing a lens modeled on the vision system of cats which will therefore make it possible to improve the cameras of military drones as well as surveillance robots.
How does this lens work?
Like a cat's eyes. That's the short answer. But let’s go into a little more detail. To follow the vision of cats, the South Korean lens will therefore adapt to an important fact: the day-night cycle, or at least knowing how to adapt to variations in brightness.
Cat owners will probably have already noticed, but your felines' pupils are not really the same when it is day and when it is night. Indeed, in the middle of the day, when the brightness is at its maximum, the cat has a pupil similar to the eye of Sauron in Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, when it is night, in order to see in the dark, its pupil will dilate enormously to let in as much light as possible, even in very dark places.
Well, the South Korean lens, which is therefore modeled on those of cats, will therefore integrate a functionality allowing it to adapt to all light conditions in real time. But that's not all.
A cat focused on prey will not let go of it until it finds something else of interest to focus on. The lens made in Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology will also allow better tracking of the objects it targets.
“Robotic cameras often have difficulty spotting objects in busy or camouflaged backgrounds, especially when lighting conditions change. Our concept solves this problem by allowing robots to blur unnecessary details and focus on important objects.” said Young Min-Song, lead author of the study, at Science Daily.
A technology that also saves energy by only displaying what is really necessary and not an entire complete field of vision.
A lens that integrates AI, but which is not yet 100% ready
Obviously, today, it is everywhere or at least, it tends to be. Of course, we have succeeded in copying cats, but why not also integrate artificial intelligence to ensure that the military drone or surveillance robot can itself recognize “prey” and follow it.
According to the researchers, their solution is not yet completely ready to enter service with the army, for example. In fact, they are currently working on a better resolution of the field of view to be able to make it even more precise.
The end goal, as revealed LiveScience, would that the lens modeled on the vision of felines could ultimately be capable of tracking any target in changing environments where the brightness would be, for example, extremely low.
Source : LiveScience / Science Daily
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