Weekly Progress Report #8

Weekly Progress Report #8
Adnan Khan and Noah Borel
12/20/15


Progress:
- Calculations, adjustments, and measurements made for compound eye simulation. The cardboard frame will have holes to allow an external webcam to be installed into frame to capture images at the different angles. **Real model is to be twice the scale of the model diagram drawings.**
   - Width = 10 inches.
   - Height = 5 inches.
   - Octagon top:
      - Width = 4 inches.
      - Side length  = 1.657 inches.
      - Longest length from center to edge of octagon = 2.165 inches.

   - Trapezoid sides:
      - Width when angled = 3 inches.
      - Height when angled = 5 inches.
      - Length = 5.83 inches.
      - Trapezoid extended from triangle with vertex at center of octagon:

      - Angle between octagon and angled trapezoid = 121°:


- Materials acquired for construction of frame for compound eye simulation:
   - Cardboard pieces
   - Scissors
   - Tape


Problems:
- The angle between the trapezoids is still uncertain. The trapezoids on the 2D plane would not be able to touch, as then the fold downward would make the trapezoids overlap.

   - A comparison was made between if the trapezoids were touching or if the trapezoids were thinner. The thinner trapezoid is what is needed, so that when folded downward, the trapezoid sides will meet.

   - Horizontal angle is sought for. This angle was unable to be found through comparison with the larger trapezoid.

   - Instead, angle is approximated by looking at boundary angles. On one end, if a rectangle is used, the horizontal angle is 90°, thus the vertical angle after folding is also 90°. On the other end, if the largest trapezoid is used, the horizontal angle is 112.5°, thus the vertical angle after folding is 180° because the fold would not be able to happen.
   - Approximation made with assumption that horizontal to vertical angle increase is linear. Based on rates of increase, every 1° increase of the horizontal angle means a 4° increase of the vertical angle: At 98°, the vertical angle is 122° which is a good approximation for the 121° desired angle.

   - Unsure if 98° is able to be used, as linear relationship between angles is uncertain.
- The length of the end of the trapezoid is still unknown. End length of trapezoid to be found once angle measurement is verified.


Plan:
- Begin physical construction of compound eye simulation frame:
   - Use VEX Robotics parts to give further strength to the cardboard pieces. Metal pieces are also bendable and can be fixed to be at certain angles.
- Further investigate issue with trapezoid angles and end length.

Weekly Progress Report #7

Weekly Progress Report #7
Adnan Khan and Noah Borel
12/13/15


Progress:
- Optimized tracking ability of color-based tracking and frame difference tracking methods:
- Color-based tracking:
   - Increased erode and dilate function values. Made to work best when a small object was tracked, such as a small container lid.
- Frame difference tracking:
   - Decreased blur size value and increased sensitivity value. Made to work best when tracking a hand or finger when moving left and right or up and down.

- Brainstormed ideas for object tracking with a compound eye simulation:
   - Use computer webcam or external webcam.
   - Move webcam around axis to capture images in shape of semi-sphere.





- 9 total images captured for semi-sphere coverage.  
- Piece together captured images to form one single image.
- Blur image in Microsoft Visual Studio to represent how compound eye captures blurred images.

Problems:
- Some square image capture areas would overlap. Some areas of the semi-sphere would not be covered by the square image captures.

Plan:
- Continue development of compound eye simulation:
   - Learn to combine images in Microsoft Visual Studio.
   - Calculate required angles for images to be captured at.
- Integrate frame difference tracking method into new semi-sphere apparatus.  

RE: Patent Search Results

An excellent list of patents. Some of the patents seem to be more on the imaging system and a few of them are more algorithmic. The number of the patents shown are relatively small compared to the traditional computer vision fields. The lacking of real world applications is a strong indication of the level of maturity of compound eyes technology. In other words, there are plenty of opportunities of innovation in this field! The reason that not many people involved in this field is probably due to the lack of available compound eyes imaging devices. However, it doesn't prevent you from creating a collection of simulated compound eyes images and test your new algorithms on them.