On-Line Recognition (OLREC): A Novel Approach to Visual Pattern Recognition

A pattern recognition system has been developed which is capable of recognizing high contrast two-dimensional visual patterns and which is insensitive to the translation, rotation and size of a pattern. The unique characteristics of the system are its speed, its low cost and the fact that it is completely self-contained. A new technique for image recognition, suitable for applications such as industrial robotics, is presented. The technique provides invariance to rotation, translation and magnification of the image. An intelligent camera system is used to input an image, to center it, to normalize it with respect to size and to convert it into polar coordinate form. The image is then integrated over r and θ to provide two orthogonal profiles. The input profiles are compared to the reference images using a threshold comparison technique designed to provide a simple hardware implementation. Rotation of the image is handled by a one-dimensional shifting of the radial profile. Seven experiments were performed to test the system. The results of these experiments are discussed and possible improvements to the system are suggested.