Cone-beam imaging CT (CBCT) scanners offer the advantages of being compact in size, less costly, and more portable than multidetector CT systems. Image quality, however, is often impacted by artifacts such as streaking or shading, associated with cone-beam effects and/or nonuniformity in image quality near the ends of the field-of-view [...]
There are drones for package delivery; drones for search and rescue; drones for surveillance; drones for photography. Now, another application has emerged, and continues to take steps getting it closer to reality: construction drones. […]
In June of 2001, computers all over the world were introduced to a new concept called Google Earth; or earth mapping. When launched on a computer, you start in outer space and miraculously zoom in. However, the leaders at Google Earth are quick to point out that it’s not just [...]
In 2000, Bill Clinton was president of the United States, and the world’s computers had just ‘survived’ the Y2K bug. It was also the year that NASA’s Terra satellite began collecting images of Earth. […]
Growing and preparing food is still rather low tech. For the most part; people are still key players at every step. However, that could change, and soon, as robotics is changing many aspects of life and is now making inroads within our food. Can robotics change the way we eat? [...]
In the realm of industry, machine vision (MV) is a form of technology and method used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as process control and robotic guidance. It’s a term encompassing a large number of technologies, software and hardware products, integrated systems, actions, methods and [...]
Someone throws a ball. The other person catches it. Simple, right? No, not really. This is one of the most complex processes science has ever attempted to comprehend, let alone recreate. Inventing a machine to see like the human eye does is deceptively difficult. Not only because it’s hard to [...]
When it comes to the relative advantages of CMOS versus CCD images, it seems that the debate has continued for as long as most people can remember. Since there is no definitive conclusion in sight, it’s not surprising that the answer is elusive, as the topic isn’t static. Not only [...]
With the advancements in surgical procedures, more operating rooms are performing ‘minimally invasive’ surgeries. What that means is, instead of operating on patients through large incisions, miniaturized surgical instruments are being used to fit through small, sometimes as small as quarter-inch, incisions. The surgical precision lenses in these instruments contain [...]
Sometimes known as photo eyes, photoelectric sensors emit a beam of light that is used to detect the presence or absence of items and equipment, or changes in surface conditions. When the emitted light is interrupted or reflected back by the object, the change in light patterns is measured by [...]
