Machines Like Us – Science News

Neuroscientists at MIT have developed a computer model that mimics the human vision system to accurately detect and recognize objects in a busy street scene, such as cars and motorcycles.

Such biologically inspired vision systems could soon be used in surveillance systems, or in smart sensors that can warn drivers of pedestrians and other obstacles. It may also help in the development of so-called visual search engines, says Thomas Serre, a neuroscientist at the Center for Biological and Computational Learning at MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, who was involved in the project.

Researchers have been interested for years in trying to copy biological vision systems, simply because they are so good, says David Hogg, a computer vision expert at Leeds University in the UK. "This is a very successful example of [mimicking biological vision]," he says.

From Technology Review