Dedicated detectors

Research aimed at teaching robots to “see” may soon make it possible to bag speeding motorists, track enemy planes, and automatically safeguard the

’s borders and resources without any chance of detection.

A University of Florida engineering researcher is developing a method to determine speed and other characteristics of a moving object using computer algorithms, or instructions, that rely on data from standard visual cameras rather than radar or lasers. The technique has the potential to render current detection systems in so-called “fuzz busters” and some military technologies useless.

That’s because, instead of painting a target with radar waves or laser beams, a camera needs to capture an image or series of images from the target.

“If it can view the object moving, that’s all it needs. The computer figures out everything else,” said Warren Dixon, a UF assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “We’re trying to use both regular and infrared cameras, so night or adverse weather conditions don’t present a problem.”