Detection and tracking of faces in real environments

A stereo active vision interface is introduced which detects frontal faces in real world environments and performs particular active control tasks dependent on changes in the visual field. Firstly, connected skin colour regions in the visual scene are detected by applying a radial scanline algorithm. Secondly, facial features are searched for in the most salient skin colour region while the blob is tracked by the camera system. The facial features are evaluated and, based on the obtained results and the current state of the system, particular actions are performed. The SAVI system is thought of as a smart laser interface for teleconferencing, telemedicine, and distance learning. The system is designed as a Perception-Action-Cycle (PAC), processing sensory data of different kinds and qualities. Both the vision module and the head motion control module work at frame rate. Hence, the system is able to react instantaneously to changing conditions in the visual scene.