Active stereo vision and cyclotorsion

Michael R. M. Jenkin, John K. Tsotsos

Abstract: When a particular point is fixated by an active stereo system different portions of the world are brought into interocular alignment. This region is known as the horoptor. Through an examination of the horoptor under different viewing conditions it is demonstrated that for certain binocular tasks it is desirable to manipulate the horoptor by rotating (torquing) the cameras about their optical axes. This manipulation can be passive for operations such as stereo based obstacle detection for mobile robots, or active for active binocular heads. Techniques for both situations are presented.<