be divided into two areas Image enhancement Image analysis
Here we concentrate on fast methods typical for robot soccer and robot theatre applications Binary image processing Image with two gray levels 0 and 1 It contains the basic terms and concepts used in machine vision. Its techniques are used in all aspects of a vision system. Small memory requirements Fast execution time
Gray level image vs. binary image
Image Enhancement
Point Operations
Region and segmentation Region ( ) A subset of an image Segmentation Grouping of pixels into regions such that
Thresholding Thresholding Thresholding : A method to convert a gray scale image into a binary image for object-background separation : Thresholded gray image Obtained using a threshold T for the original gray image . : Binary image Equivalent to . Three types of thresholding
where Z is a set of which elements are integer-valued intervals.
Original image and its histogram Thresholding
H Histogram Equalization
Vision System of Soccer Robot Image notation for soccer Image : a two-dimensional array of pixels
Pixel a[i, j] Geometric properties In many cases, some simple features of regions are useful to: determine the locations of objects, and to recognize objects. Geometric properties: Size Position Orientation Size and position Given an m x n binary image, Size (area) A : zero-order moment
Position : the center of area
Average in x Average in y Total size is number of black dots Example The center of object : Let
By the least-squares fit of the line,
Step 1: calculate a,b,c coefficients Step 2: calculate angle, line orientation How to calculate line orientation? Size filter for Noise removal It can effectively remove noise after component algorithm labeling. If objects of interest have sizes greater than T, all components below T
are removed by changing the corresponding pixels values to 0. A noisy binary image and the resulting image after size filtering (T = 10) How to get the position and angle of robot Get frame-grabber, color CCD camera and computer. Understand how you can read the image data from frame- grabber. Find the position of a colored object in 2-D image. Determine the robot uniform with two colored objects Calculate the position and angle of the robot from the positions of two colored objects. Position of colored object 1. Setting of ranges for YUV [Y min ,Y max ], [U min ,U max ], [V min , V max ] 2. Thresholding 3. Labeling (grouping) 4. Size filtering (noise elimination) 5. Finding the center of a colored object
Calculations for soccer field Finding robots in the field Robot position and heading This cross sign is easy to recognize Robot color and team color This slide explains labeling robots and teams Window tracking method Processing only the data within a small window Getting a fast vision processing Line Orientation Orientation from of the axis of elongation This is called line orientation Line equation : : the minimum distance between the line and origin : the angle from x-axis to the line The distance, d, from any (x, y) within the object to the line : which satisfies
Minimize
Our task is to find values of angle theta and rho for which this formula is minimum. This provides best fit to line equation The center of object : Let
Given is object. Find its line orientation 1. Calculate center 2. Calculate a, b, and c. By the least-squares fit of the line,
1. Calculate center 2. Calculate a, b, and c. 3. Calculate theta Binary algorithms Several definitions Neighbors 4-neighbors (4-connected)
8-neighbors (8-connected) Path A sequence of neighbors Foreground : The set of all unity valued pixels in an image Connectivity A pixel is said to be connected to if there is a path from to consisting entirely of pixels of . Connected components A set of pixels in which each pixel is connected to all other pixels. Component labeling Component labeling algorithm
It finds all connected components in an image and assigns a unique label to all the points in a component.
One of the most common operations in machine vision
Recursive connected components algorithm
Sequential connected components algorithm
The points in a connected component form a candidate region for an object.
An image and its connected component image Recursive algorithm for connected component labeling Recursive connected components algorithm
1. Scan the image to find an unlabeled unity valued pixel and assign it a new label L.
2. Recursively assign a label L to all its unity valued neighbors.
3. Stop if there are no more unlabeled unity valued pixels.
4. Go to step 1. Pseudo code for the recursive algorithm Sequential algorithm for connected component labeling Sequential connected components algorithm using 4-connectivity 1. Scan the image from left to right and top to bottom.
2. If the pixel is unity valued , then (a) If only one of its upper or left neighbors has a label, then copy the label.
(b) If both have the same label, then copy the same label.
(c) If both have different labels, then copy the upper pixels label and enter the labels in an equivalence table as equivalent labels.
(d) Otherwise assign a new label to this pixel and enter this label in the equivalence table.
3. If there are more pixels to consider, then go to step 2.
4. Find the lowest label for each equivalent set in the equivalence table.
5. Scan the picture. Replace each label by the lowest label in its equivalent set. Sequential algorithm for connected component labeling continued Pseudo code for step 2 in the sequential algorithm
An example for the sequential algorithm Digital Geometry Neighborhood Connectedness Distance Metrics Picture Element or Pixel Pixel value I(I,j) = 0,1 Binary Image 0 - K-1 Gray Scale Image Vector: Multispectral Image 32 I(i,j) (0,0) i j Connected Components Binary image with multiple 'objects' Separate 'objects' must be labeled individually 6 Connected Components Finding Connected Components Two points in an image are 'connected' if a path can be found for which the value of the image function is the same all along the path. P1 P2 P3 P4 P 1
connected to P 2
P 3
connected to P 4
P 1
not connected to P 3 or P 4
P 2
not connected to P 3 or P 4
P 3
not connected to P 1 or P 2
P 4
not connected to P 1 or P 2
Algorithm Pick any pixel in the image and assign it a label Assign same label to any neighbor pixel with the same value of the image function Continue labeling neighbors until no neighbors can be assigned this label Choose another label and another pixel not already labeled and continue If no more unlabeled image points, stop. Who's my neighbor? Example Neighbor Consider the definition of the term 'neighbor' Two common definitions: Consider what happens with a closed curve. One would expect a closed curve to partition the plane into two connected regions. Four Neighbor Eight Neighbor Alternate Neighborhood Definitions Neither neighborhood definition satisfactory! 4-neighbor connectedness 8-neighbor connectedness Possible Solutions Use 4-neighborhood for object and 8- neighborhood for background requires a-priori knowledge about which pixels are object and which are background Use a six-connected neighborhood: Digital Distances Alternate distance metrics for digital images Euclidean Distance City Block Distance Chessboard Distance = (i-n) 2 + (j-m) 2 = |i-n| + |j-m| = max[ |i-n|, |j-m| ] Connected Components / Image Labeling Goal: To find clusters of pixels that are similar and connected to each other How it works: Assign a value to each pixel Define what similar values mean e.g., 10 +/- 2 Determine if like pixels are connected
Connected components A set of pixels in which each pixel is connected to all other pixels. An image and its connected component image Connected Components / Image Labeling 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 A A A A A A A B B A A A A A A C A A A D D C C A A D D C C A Connected Components / Image Labeling 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 A A A A A A A B B A A A A A A B A A A C C B B A A C C B B A After thresholding an image, we want to know something about the regions found ... Binary Image Processing How many objects are in the image? Where are the distinct object components? Cleaning up a binary image? Recognizing objects through their response to image masks Describing the shape/structure of 2d objects Pattern Counting Objects external corners internal corners 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Connected Component Labeling 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 Algorithm 1. Image is A. Let A = -A; 2. Start in upper left and work L to R, Top to Bottom, looking for an unprocessed (-1) pixel. 3. When one is found, change its label to the next unused integer. Relabel all of that pixels unprocessed neighbors and their neighbors recursively. 4. When there are no more unprocessed neighbors, resume searching at step 2 -- but do so where you left off the last time. Connected Component Labeling Summary A simple procedure to get robot position and heading: Thresholding, labeling, size filtering, center of area calculation, window tracking method Trade-off between: real-time vision processing and robustness Specific frame grabber required Problems for students 1. Binary image processing and basic operations on binary images. 2. List and explain briefly operations used in image enhancement 3. What are point operations. Give examples. 4. Explain contrast stretching operation. Write simple program. 5. Definition of image segmentation. 6. Segmentation based on thresholding 7. Types of thresholding. Give examples of each with practical applications. 8. The general idea of histogram equalization. Show examples. 9. Geometric positions of objects in robot soccer. 10. Size and position of objects in robot soccer. Problems for students 11. How to calculate quickly the center of the mass of an object? 12. How to calculate line orientation? 13. Describe and program size filter for noise removal. Emphasize speed not quality. 14. How to calculate position and angle of a robot using the ceiling camera? 15. Use of colors in vision of robot soccer. 16. Window tracking methods in robot soccer. 17. Use of Line orientation in robot soccer. Problems for students 18. Binary image processing algorithms in robot soccer. 19. Component labeling 20. Recursive connected components algorithm 21. Sequential connected components algorithm 22. Algorithms to find connected components. 23. Alternate definitions of neighbors in connected components algorithms. Applications in robot soccer. 24. The concept of digital distance and its use. 25. Connected component labeling in binary images. 26. Counting objects. What are applications in robot soccer?