A method including detecting an object in a line of sight of at least one sensor; adjusting a current path of the robot to include a detour path around the object, instructing the robot to resume along the current path after avoiding the object, discarding at least some data collected by sensors of the robot in overlapping areas covered, inferring previously visited areas and unvisited areas, generating a planar representation of a workspace of the robot by stitching data collected by at least some sensors of the robot at overlapping points, and presenting at least the planar representation and coverage statistics on an application of a communication device.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an imaging device capable of both improving object detection accuracy and reducing calculation load. The present invention comprises: a plurality of imaging units; an object information acquisition unit that obtains object information including distance information for objects; a search conditions setting unit that sets conditions for searching for image elements corresponding to specific image elements inside a standard image captured by one of the plurality of imaging units, same being searched for inside a reference image captured by another imaging unit; and a stereo distance detection unit that performs said search on the basis of conditions set by the search conditions setting unit and detects the object distance on the basis of parallax obtained by the search. The search conditions setting unit sets the search range for searches, on the basis of the detection information for the object.

A measurement system includes a first distance calculation unit that searches for a corresponding region, indicating a same array as an array of codes indicated by a predetermined number of reference patterns included in a unit region set in the projection pattern, from a set of the codes, and calculates a distance from an irradiation reference surface of the projection pattern to each portion of the object on the basis of a search result of the corresponding region, and a second distance calculation unit that attempts to estimate a distance for the defective portion for which the first distance calculation unit is not able to calculate the distance by reconstructing an incomplete code corresponding to the defective portion using peripheral information in the input image.

A distance to a target to be read by image capture over a range of working distances is determined by directing an aiming light spot along an aiming axis to the target, and by capturing a first image of the target containing the aiming light spot, and by capturing a second image of the target without the aiming light spot. Each image is captured in a frame over a field of view having an imaging axis offset from the aiming axis. An image pre-processor compares first image data from the first image with second image data from the second image over a common fractional region of both frames to obtain a position of the aiming light spot in the first image, and determines the distance to the target based on the position of the aiming light spot in the first image.

A distance measurement device includes a first acquisition unit configured to acquire distance information on the basis of a plurality of images captured at different viewpoints, a second acquisition configured to acquire correction information of the distance information on the basis of a plurality of images captured at a timing different from the plurality of images used by the first acquisition unit, and a correction unit configured to correct the distance information on the basis of the correction information.

A photoelectric conversion device includes pixels arranged to form columns, comparator circuits for respective columns, and a control circuit that controls the comparator circuits. Each comparator circuit includes a first comparator circuit connected to a first pixel of a first color, a second comparator circuit arranged on a column adjacent to the first comparator circuit and connected to a second pixel of a second color, and a third comparator circuit arranged on a column adjacent to the second comparator circuit and connected to a third pixel of the first color. Each comparator circuit compares a pixel signal on a corresponding column with a reference signal changing with time and outputs a comparison signal indicating a different level whether a difference between these signals is smaller or larger than a threshold. The control circuit controls the threshold to change stepwise in order of the first, third, and second comparator circuits.

There is provided a parallax detecting apparatus. A first obtainment unit obtains a first viewpoint image and a second viewpoint image that have different viewpoints from each other in a first direction. A second obtainment unit obtains displacement information that specifies a displacement amount in a second direction between positions in the first viewpoint image and the second viewpoint image corresponding to a same position in a shooting range. The displacement amount varies in conformity with a parallax amount between the positions. The second direction is perpendicular to the first direction. A calculation unit performs correlation calculation processing with respect to each of a plurality of reference regions corresponding to a plurality of reference positions in the second viewpoint image. A detection unit detects a parallax amount at a base position in the first viewpoint image based on calculated correlations.

Occupancy detection is an increasingly important part of building control logic, as new systems and control logic greatly benefit from human-in-the-loop sensing. Current approaches such as CO.sub.2 monitoring, acoustic detection, and PIR based motion detection are limited in scope, as these variables are a proxy for occupancy, and at best can be roughly correlated to occupancy, and cannot reliably provide a count of the number of occupants. The disclosed sensor uses thermal information that is continually being emitted by human occupants and optical processing to count and spatially resolve the location of occupants in a room, allowing ventilation flow rates to be properly controlled and directed, if enabled. Occupant detection and counting cheaply and reliably without moving parts is the holy grail of building controls at the moment, which are the basic design principles behind the disclosed inexpensive, static, and stable thermographic occupancy detection sensor.

The present invention provides a stereo camera capable of mitigating thermal stress generated between members and reducing measurement error. In the present invention, a housing is provided with a high-rigidity support part and low-rigidity support part for supporting a circuit board, a high-rigidity support area including the high-rigidity support part, and a low-rigidity support area including the low-rigidity support part. The high-rigidity support part has greater rigidity in relation to force acting in a baseline direction (X-axis direction) following a baseline length of a pair of camera modules than the low-rigidity support part. The high-rigidity support area is provided in one location so as to be adjacent to the low-rigidity support area in the baseline direction.

A solid state imaging device as an embodiment includes: a plurality of pixels each including at least one photoelectric conversion unit and an amplification transistor having a first input node electrically connected to the photoelectric conversion unit, a first primary node, and a second primary node; a transistor having a second input node, a third primary node, and a fourth primary node and having the same polarity as the amplification transistor; at least one signal line to which the first primary node of each of the plurality of pixels is electrically connected; and a current source electrically connected to the signal line, and a power source voltage is applied to the third primary node, the fourth primary node and the second primary node are electrically connected to each other, and the first primary node and the second input node are electrically connected to each other.