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VLSI optosensors optimized for three-dimensional vision. A description of integrated devices jointly developed for industrial and scientific applications will be given. All sensors presented here have been manufactured using standard CMOS technology that allows the monolithic integration of photo sensors along with reading circuits and digital signal processors. The 3D digital image can benefit from advances in VLSI technology to accelerate its deployment in many fields such as visual communication and industrial automation. High resolution 3D images can be acquired using laser-based vision systems. With this approach, 3D information becomes relatively insensitive to background illumination and surface texture. Full images of visible surfaces can be generated which are quite devoid of traits for the human eye or video camera. Smart digitizers will be able to accurately and simultaneously measure color and 3D.

3D color image technology

The vision of the machine involves the analysis of the properties of the luminous flux reflected or irradiated by the objects. To retrieve the geometric structures of these objects, either to recognize or to measure their dimension, two basic vision strategies are available.
Passive vision, try to analyze the structure of the scene under ambient light. Stereoscopic vision is a passive optical technique. The basic idea is that two or more digital images are taken from known locations. The images are processed to find the correlations between them. As soon as the points of coincidence are identified, the geometry can be calculated.
Active vision attempts to reduce the ambiguity of scene analysis by structuring the way the images are formed. Sensors that capitalize active vision can solve most of the ambiguities encountered with two-dimensional imaging systems. Based on lidar or triangulation based laser cameras are examples of active vision techniques. A digital 3D image system based on optical triangulation was developed and demonstrated.