If we look back through the years it’s clear technology has come a long way. So much so that cameras can be used for more than just taking a picture or documenting a moment. In fact, cameras have reached the point where they’ve taken on a characteristic we’ve often given to people- being smart.
Smart cameras have completely revolutionized the way in which industries perform everyday tasks. It’s because of this that fields like the military have embraced these forms of technology and are choosing to utilize them alongside our soldiers. Take unmanned vehicles (UAVs) for example. Cameras have completely changed the game. They allow for UAVs to be able to track targets as well as be controlled remotely -- all things that are truly beneficial when it comes to our security and defense. However, with all of the advancements that have been made, there is still a lot to be done. That’s where projects like one from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) comes in.
‘Mind’s Eye’ is a project that was created as a way to help these machine vision cameras get better at recognizing vision-based tasks. You see, no matter how many capabilities these cameras have, at the end of the day there are still things that we as humans can do better. For example, some machines can’t make certain distinctions or they focus on the wrong parts of a scene. We as humans don’t have these problems. However, DARPA is confident that these cameras will get there. It all comes down to improving computer vision.
Currently these cameras are able to recognize objects, but they can’t always make certain distinctions. For example, they may see an object, but not be able to distinguish that it’s actually a person. The way in which a person and a machine would describe a scene are different. The goal is to try and duplicate human vision. By finding ways to make the gap between human and system closer, the benefits it could bring to our military are endless.