"It is possible to build a computer-driven, life-size, android robot head (Figure 1) for cost of materials of about $600.00. The android head will have two color video-camera eyes with the video going both into a window on the PC and into an image processing Java application. The robot will have six servo motors controlling: (1) base of the head spins, (2,3) each eye moves left/right, (4) both eyes move up/down, (5,6) each eye-lid opens/closes. All servo motors are controlled via a Java application. The user supplies the computer (PC). The details of how to construct such a head follows, based on the authors creation of Robot Maxamilian, R. Max for short. " On the surface this sounds like a stupid idea, but crazy ideas sometimes bear useful fruit. Are Java libraries available for turning "sterescopic" video into a 3D object representation?? I wonder if a neural net's recognition of objects like "chairs" improves if you provide stereoscopic input... How to Build a Computerized Android Robot Head for $600.00. |