CLOUD

Empress Software, developers of EMPRESS, "The Embedded Real-Time Database", announces a mutually cooperative partnership for supporting research in computer vision and robotics with the Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision, part of the Centre for Vision Research at York University. The Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision specializes in computer vision, the study and application of methods that allow computers to "understand" image content or content of multidimensional data. This specialized ability is a skill that comes naturally to humans, however computer vision is a complex, evolving field of study. There is vast potential for applications using intelligent robotics, medical image processing, manufacturing, surveillance, and more. "This partnership is a serious collaboration where both parties share a mutual vision of a fruitful, long term relationship," comments Dr. John K. Tsotsos, director of Centre for Vision Research and head of the Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision. "Any kind of complex application has the potential use of a database management system and the possibilities of using EMPRESS in the field of computer vision are many. It gives us great satisfaction to take a concept from theory into practice to produce something of value for the greater good." Dr. Tsotsos is also a professor of Computer Science & Engineering at York University and Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision. The Laboratory for Active and Attentive Vision is currently involved in a variety of advanced application development projects involving computer vision and artificial intelligence including the development of vision-based robotic aids for people with disabilities. The objective of the PLAYBOT project is to develop an intelligent robot - a motorized wheelchair guided by human and robot vision. This sophisticated project teams the user's visual systems together with the robot's visual system to form a complex but user-friendly closed loop system. The EMPRESS database management system can be used in robot control architecture to store a library of user commands, behavior and visual signals for motion interaction with the user and robot. "We were very fortunate in having the Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham (ISCM) perform the initial matchmaking with the Centre for Vision Research at York University since robotics and computer vision are hot topics," comments John Kornatowski, president of Empress Software. "We are excited about the prospect of having the EMPRESS database be embedded into a variety of systems, from facial recognition systems used in surveillance, to robotic devices for manufacturing, to out of this world system systems used for space exploration. The potential is unlimited."