A packaging robot, working in a confectionery factory in the near future, aims its electronic eye at a tray crammed with chocolates. The robot must fill a box with a specific mix of the chocolates, but how can it tell a strawberry cream from a hazelnut whirl? A new object recognition technique developed at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, might help this robot hold onto its job. Using three lights, a video camera and a computer, researcher Elli Angelopoulou has devised a new way to transform visual images into electronic "signatures". By comparing these signatures, a computer can tell how closely two objects resemble one another. For instance, a smooth, dome-shaped candy and a bumpy nut cluster would have far different signatures.
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