A research team from the School of Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has recently developed a new artificial compound eye system that is not only more cost-effective but at least twice as effective as current market products. Shows sensitivity. in small areas. The system promises to revolutionize robotic vision, enhance robots' capabilities in navigation, perception and decision-making, while fostering commercial applications and further advances in human-robot collaboration.
Mimicking the visual capabilities of compound eyes, this innovative system can be applied in a wide range of scenarios, such as being installed on drones to improve their accuracy and performance in areas such as irrigation or disaster relief. Rescue. With its high sensitivity, the system can also enable close collaboration between robots and other connected devices. In the long term, the Compound Eye system will increase autonomous driving safety and accelerate the adoption of intelligent transport systems, promoting the development of smart cities.
Developed by a team led by Professor FAN Zhiyong, Chair Professor of HKUST's Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, this innovative technology represents a significant leap forward in the field of biomimetic vision systems.
Traditionally, roboticists have focused primarily on replicating the visual abilities of insects, which offer wide-field and advanced motion-tracking capabilities. However, integrating compound eye systems into autonomous platforms such as robots or drones has been challenging because these systems often suffer from complexity and stability issues during deformation, geometry constraints, as well as potential mismatches between optical and detector components. There are
To address these challenges, Professor Fan's team developed a pinhole compound vision system by adopting new materials and structures. The system has several key features, including an inherent hemispherical perovskite nanowire imager with high pixel density to enlarge the imaging field. and 3D-printed lens-free pinhole arrays with custom configurations to regulate incident light and eliminate blind spots between neighboring ommatidia (individual units within the insect's compound eye). Due to its good angular selectivity, wide field of view, wide spectrum response in monocular and binocular configurations, as well as its dynamic motion tracking capability, the pinhole compound eye can not only accurately locate targets. But a moving quadrilateral can also track a robot. Added to the drone.
“This compound eye design is simple, light and cheap. Although it won't completely replace traditional cameras, it could be a big boost in some robotics applications, such as one for drones,” said Professor Fan. In swarms that are flying in close proximity. By further miniaturizing the device size and increasing the number of apertures, imaging resolution, and response speed, this type of device could find wide applications in optoelectronics and robotics.”
As a renowned researcher in biomimetic optoelectronics, Professor Fan is keen to combine a practical approach with bold imagination to advance cutting-edge research. This unique eye work marks another breakthrough in the field of vision and robotic systems after developing the world's first spherical artificial eye with 3D retina in 2020.
The research work was published and featured as a cover article in a top international journal. Science Robotics. Dr. Zhou Yu (postdoc), Dr. Sun Zibo (postdoc), and Ding Yucheng (PhD student) are co-first authors while Prof. Fan is the corresponding author.