The human eye inspires next-gen camera

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Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed an innovative camera that mimics the human eye's involuntary movements to produce sharper, more accurate images.

The Artificial Microsaccade-Enhanced Event Camera (AMI-EV) uses a rotating prism to replicate microsaccades, enabling it to capture clear, stable images even with significant motion. "Event cameras track moving objects well but struggle with motion blur," said lead author Botao He. "Our camera uses principles from human vision to maintain focus on moving objects."

The system's continuous prism movement stabilises images, enhanced by software that consolidates these into blur-free frames. This breakthrough, detailed in Science Robotics, could significantly advance robotic vision, virtual reality, and autonomous driving. "Better cameras mean better perception and reactions for robots," explained co-author Yiannis Aloimonos.