Omron today announced the development of its Human Vision Component (HVC), a new image sensing component that can be embedded in a variety of devices and equipment. The HVC incorporates ten algorithms from OKAO Vision and a camera module into a compact configuration. OKAO Vision is Omron’s image sensing technology capable of recognizing the intentions and conditions of people through face recognition, estimation of facial expressions, age estimation, gaze estimation, hand detection, and other functions.
With Omron’s HVC, all the processes up to image analysis are handled within the component itself. The user simply needs to mount the component on the equipment to obtain information on the conditions and intentions of people. By combining these technologies, HVCs will enable high-precision interpretation of the faces and motions of people under various conditions in which the equipment is in use, whether indoor or outdoor. The new HVC will be unveiled at CEATEC Japan 2013 to be held October 1-5 in the Makuhari Messe fair site.
Features of Omron Human Vision Component:
People’s conditions recognizable simply by mounting an HVC on equipment
Regardless of the CPU performance of a customer’s equipment, simply mounting an HVC on the equipment enables the customer to obtain the results of advanced image processing as a sensor output.
Full range of functions:
Ten different sensing functions are incorporated to recognize the intentions and conditions of people from a variety of perspectives.
Available functions are: 1) face detection, 2) human body detection, 3) gender estimation, 4) age estimation, 5) gaze estimation, 6) facial pose estimation, 7) face recognition, 8) estimation of facial expressions (satisfied, unsatisfied, five different expressions: happiness, surprise, anger, sadness, and neutral), 9) hand detection, and 10) blink estimation.
High precision
Accurate recognition of people’s conditions and intentions is enabled under a variety of situations in which a customer’s equipment is used.
Examples of Applications:
Home appliances (air conditioners)
Optimal air conditioner control is possible through detection of the position and number of people in a room. Control can also vary depending on age and gender, or through the identification of a specific person.
Marketing research (POS registers and automatic venders)
Information on consumers who access these devices can be collected, including gender and age groups. HVC’s facial pose, gaze and expression estimation enables consumer preferences and purchasing behaviors to be detected.
Industrial equipment (food processing equipment)
Hands-free control of equipment is possible through the use of hand detection and gaze estimation.
Robotics (robotic pets)
Robots can react to the motions or facial expressions of users.
Security (access control systems)
Authorized persons who have registered their faces can enter or exit a room without using a card or key.
