Machine Vision Based on a Cat Brain

Posted 27 May 2008 at 18:22 UTC by steve

A NewScientistTech article describes new software based on the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of a cat's brain. When connected to a video camera the software responds to visual information in much the same way as the biological cat brain. The system was initially tried with simple test patterns and other artificial scenes. Later the input was actual video coming from a catcam, a small video camera mounted on a cat's head. Other test data included scenes from an animated Tarzan movie. The ultimate goal is to develop a bionic eye for humans with non-functional optic nerves. The sensor would be able to directly stimulate the brain's LGN, bypassing the eye and optic nerves. This research is being done at Carandini Lab of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. More information can be found on the lab's Predicting visual responses webpage.