Vergence Control of 2 DOF Pan-Tilt Binocular Cameras using a Log-Polar Representation of the Visual Cortex

This paper presents a neurologically inspired vergence control model that uses the optimization of the disparity error between interlaced cortical maps incident on the visual cortex (VC). This was inspired by the work of Hubel et al [4] where their investigations led to the discovery of the alternating organization of ocular dominance columns. While the implemented system consists of many modules including a simple component to function as the superior colliculus (SC) and modeling of attention traces from the Frontal Eye Fields (FEF) [5], this paper emphasizes the parts specific to using the log-polar maps on the visual cortex for vergence control. We explain how the log-polar image incident on the VC can be used successfully to determine the pan angle (saccade) to perform binocular vergence on points of in the scene. A discussion at the end of the paper highlights the significant differences between this system and the conventional object correspondence systems that require matching of specific object shapes. In this model, the cortically magnified VC image is used to match the entire image.