Stolkin publishes paper in elite journal
Stevens professor’s paper is featured in Measurement Science and Technology
HOBOKEN , N.J. — Rustam Stolkin, Research Assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, has recently lead-authored and published a paper in the Institute of Physics Publishing ’s journal, Measurement Science and Technology.
A focus of Dr. Stolkin’s research is robotic vision, developing algorithms which enable computers to make sense of the world by “looking” at it through video cameras. One important use of these techniques is to enable a robot to navigate by visually determining its position with respect to an observed object or scene.
To properly test these algorithms, one needs video sequences for which the camera’s true position at every frame has already been measured. These “ground-truth” positions can then be compared with the estimated positions created by the robotic vision algorithm, to see if they are correct. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to generate such ground-truth video sequences, making it difficult for robot vision researchers to prove that their algorithms actually work.
Dr. Stolkin and his collaborators have solved this problem by using a robot arm to move a video camera, filming a variety of video sequences along identical camera trajectories. Some of these sequences feature visually interesting scenes which are fed to the vision algorithm. Other sequences feature black “calibration targets” containing grids of white dots. By analyzing the position of the dots in each image, the camera’s position can be calculated. These positions can then be used as ground-truth for corresponding images in the visually interesting sequences used to test the vision algorithm.
The paper appears in the current online edition and is available free online at http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/-ffissn=0957-0233/-ff30=all/0957-0233/17/10/026. It will be featured in the October 2006 print version of MST.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University, is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,234 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with more than 400 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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