A critical look at robot vision

Discusses the background of robot vision systems and examines why vision‐guided motion for robots hasn’t lived up to the early promise. Outlines the different types of robot vision available and considers the limitation of “computer vision” in most commercial applications. Looks at the difficulties of making effective use of information from a two‐dimensional vision system to guide a robot working in a 3‐dimensional environment and at some of the possible solutions. Discusses future developments and concludes that in the short term, it is probably the opening up of programming to a larger group of potential users, with the facility of graphic user interface, which will have the greatest impact on the uptake of vision for robots.