We present a processing technique for a robust reconstruction of motion properties for single points in large scale, dynamic environments. We assume that the acquisition camera is moving and that there are other independently moving agents in a large environment, like road scenarios. The separation of direction and magnitude of the reconstructed motion allows for robust reconstruction of the dynamic state of the objects in situations, where conventional binocular systems fail due to a small signal (disparity) from the images due to a constant detection error, and where structure from motion approaches fail due to unobserved motion of other agents between the camera frames. We present the mathematical framework and the sensitivity analysis for the resulting system.
Time-to-contact is an important quantity for controlling activities which involve the timing of interactions with objects and surfaces in motion relative to an observer. Two alternative means for obtaining perceptual information that might be used to obtain the time-to-contact required to correctly time an interaction have been contrasted: a method based on the perception of distance and velocity, and a method due to Lee involving a perceptual variable called tau. A monocular version of the first method is presented and shown to place a highly unrealistic and arbitrary limitation on the capabilities of the visual system. The second method is reviewed and its limitations discussed. Several means by which these limitations can be overcome are presented. Recently reported results from experiments which involved catching self-luminous balls in the dark are interpreted in terms of timing information available to the subject, and the notions of intermodal and multimodal timing information are introduced. Finall...