Understanding Computer Vision

Computer vision is a scientific field that includes methods for receiving, understanding, interpreting and reading images or the high dimensional data from the real world, in order to produce numeric or symbolic output. In this field computers are designed accordingly in order to receive high level images or video. In simple terms it is actually trying to automate the task that human vision system can do.


Human Vision is of one of the most complex ability of humans which is done with the help of our eyes and certain other organs. Eyes see the high-level image/video from the surrounding and receptors in the brain for accessing it and a visual cortex for processing it. Human has been trying for centuries now to imitate this ability and give it to the machines which could be very helpful in every sector. The first ever step toward computer vision was when humans build the camera in around 1860s. The first ever camera was a wooden box with a lens in front of it. It was a very heavy machine and was a very small step towards computer vision.

The real challenge was to capture light in the form of images or videos and identifying them. For example, when our eyes see a tree, the eyes capture the light and the receptors in the brain analyze the light received and the visual cortex processes it as tree. Our mind has an advantage to the vision computer solutions, because we have seen such trees before too, so it becomes very easy for our mind to process the image and to say it a tree. Whereas in case of machine there is no initial data, only some binary coded digit pattern is present which the machine has to decode.  So, there is a lot of stuff a machine has to be programmed with. Humans do learn every time with the experiences not machine. There are times when it is confusing even for the human eye to identify what the image is, so there is no way that the machine would get it right. 

But it is not the same now. With the increase in technology and with the developing minds it has become possible that we have machines which are very highly capable of doing all this work of receiving, analyzing and processing that too in seconds and coming up with the right answer. Artificial vision now has cameras which can capture images and details which one cannot see with the bare eyes. There is a saying in computer vision as hearing is not the same as listen and to take pictures is not the same as seeing things.

Computer Vision has helped every sector. It has helped in security purposes, in traffic lights, in live streaming of matches, search engines also have an option of image which means you can search by using an image in place of using words, for example if you see a great pair of sneakers which you want to buy. There is no need to search for it on every selling site. Just take the photo and Google the photo.
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