Purdue Robot Vision Lab, Purdue University
Purdue University’s Purdue Robot Vision Laboratory (RVL) is connected with the university’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and was founded by Prof. Avinash C. Kak along with other professors and associate researchers.
Here, students carry out high-tech and advanced research in sensory intelligence for the robots of tomorrow. Purdue RVL has made revolutionary contributions in 3D object recognition, vision guided navigation for indoor mobile androids, tasks and assembly planning.
Some of the research that Purdue Robot Vision Laboratory has made so far is The Research in Wireless Camera Networks, or the Purdue Olympus A Cubed, Project. Here, the lab tried to uncover and address the basic issues related to wireless camera networks, citing that such networks are more intricate as compared to wireless sensor networks; mainly because cameras produce a lot of information that basic scalar sensor. It is also because cameras are directional devices. This project was done in collaboration with Olympus.
Another is the Person Following using a Vision-Guided Mobile Robot project. In this project, researchers cite the importance of robots in the vision area. It is believed that the mobile machines of tomorrow will be able to follow humans more intelligently, even in a busy location. Researchers created a person following mobile robot that is capable of keeping a constant distance from a person utilizing two cameras.
There is also the Line Tracking for Assembly-on-the-fly project, whose aim is to develop a vision guided, visual serving robotic system that can operate on a moving assembly line. And with full automation of work cells without disturbing the line, the proposed system can help companies save huge amounts of manufacturing resources by changing stations where robots labor in a fixed and fully calibrated location.
Aside from the abovementioned projects, there are still lots and lots of projects being undertaken and still pursued at Purdue Robot Vision Laboratory. With the talented and competent people in the lab, RVL eventually will find itself among the leading research laboratories, not only in the country but worldwide. Truly, with the advanced research going on at the lab, Purdue University has lived up to its slogan: “an equal access, equal opportunity university”.
