Geometry is a powerful tool to solve a great number of problems in robotics and computer vision. Impressive results have been obtained in these fields in the last decade. It is a new challenge to solve problems of the actual world which require the ability to reason about uncertainty and complex motion constraints by combining geometric, kinematic, and dynamic characteristics. A necessary step is to develop appropriate geometric reasoning techniques with reasonable computational complexity. This volume is based on a workshop held in Grenoble, France,in September 1991. It contains selected contributions on several important areas in the field of robotics and computer vision. The four chapters cover the following areas: - motion planning with kinematic and dynamic constraints, - motion planning and control in the presence of uncertainty, - geometric problems related to visual perception, -numerical problems linked to the implementation of practical algorithms for visual perception.

Geometry is a powerful tool to solve a great number of problems in robotics and computer vision. Impressive results have been obtained in these fields in the last decade. It is a new challenge to solve problems of the actual world which require the ability to reason about uncertainty and complex motion constraints by combining geometric, kinematic, and dynamic characteristics. A necessary step is to develop appropriate geometric reasoning techniques with reasonable computational complexity. This volume is based on a workshop held in Grenoble, France,in September 1991. It contains selected contributions on several important areas in the field of robotics and computer vision. The four chapters cover the following areas: - motion planning with kinematic and dynamic constraints, - motion planning and control in the presence of uncertainty, - geometric problems related to visual perception, -numerical problems linked to the implementation of practical algorithms for visual perception.

Many computer scientists, engineers, applied mathematicians, and physicists use geometry theory and geometric computing methods in the design of perception-action systems, intelligent autonomous systems, and man-machine interfaces. This handbook brings together the most recent advances in the application of geometric computing for building such systems, with contributions from leading experts in the important fields of neuroscience, neural networks, image processing, pattern recognition, computer vision, uncertainty in geometric computations, conformal computational geometry, computer graphics and visualization, medical imagery, geometry and robotics, and reaching and motion planning. For the first time, the various methods are presented in a comprehensive, unified manner. This handbook is highly recommended for postgraduate students and researchers working on applications such as automated learning; geometric and fuzzy reasoning; human-like artificial vision; tele-operation; space maneuvering; haptics; rescue robots; man-machine interfaces; tele-immersion; computer- and robotics-aided neurosurgery or orthopedics; the assembly and design of humanoids; and systems for metalevel reasoning.

A moving portrait of Africa from Polands most celebrated foreign correspondent - a masterpiece from a modern master. Famous for being in the wrong places at just the right times, Ryszard Kapuscinski arrived in Africa in 1957, at the beginning of the end of colonial rule - the &"sometimes dramatic and painful, sometimes enjoyable and jubilant&" rebirth of a continent.The Shadow of the Sunsums up the authors experiences (&"the record of a 40-year marriage&") in this place that became the central obsession of his remarkable career. From the hopeful years of independence through the bloody disintegration of places like Nigeria, Rwanda and Angola, Kapuscinski recounts great social and political changes through the prism of the ordinary African. He examines the rough-and-ready physical world and identifies the true geography of Africa: a little-understood spiritual universe, an African way of being. He looks also at Africa in the wake of two epoch-making changes: the arrival of AIDS and the definitive departure of the white man. Kapuscinskis rare humanity invests his subjects with a grandeur and a dignity unmatched by any other writer on the Third World, and his unique ability to discern the universal in the particular has never been more powerfully displayed than in this work. From the Trade Paperback edition.

This volume presents the proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on - gebraic Frames for the Perception and Action Cycle. AFPAC 2000. held in Kiel, Germany, 10–11 September 2000. The presented topics cover new results in the conceptualization, design, and implementation of visual sensor-based robotics and autonomous systems. Special emphasis is placed on the role of algebraic modelling in the relevant disciplines, such as robotics, computer vision, theory of multidimensional signals, and neural computation. The aims of the workshop are twofold: ?rst, discussion of the impact of algebraic embedding of the task at hand on the emergence of new qualities of modelling and second, facing the strong relations between dominant geometric problems and algebraic modelling. The ?rst workshop in this series, AFPAC’97. inspired several groups to i- tiate new research programs, or to intensify ongoing research work in this ?eld, and the range of relevant topics was consequently broadened, The approach adopted by this workshop does not necessarily ?t the mainstream of worldwide research-granting policy. However, its search for fundamental problems in our ?eld may very well lead to new results in the relevant disciplines and contribute to their integration in studies of the perception–action cycle.

The goal of the Volume I Geometric Algebra for Computer Vision, Graphics and Neural Computing is to present a unified mathematical treatment of diverse problems in the general domain of artificial intelligence and associated fields using Clifford, or geometric, algebra. Geometric algebra provides a rich and general mathematical framework for Geometric Cybernetics in order to develop solutions, concepts and computer algorithms without losing geometric insight of the problem in question. Current mathematical subjects can be treated in an unified manner without abandoning the mathematical system of geometric algebra for instance: multilinear algebra, projective and affine geometry, calculus on manifolds, Riemann geometry, the representation of Lie algebras and Lie groups using bivector algebras and conformal geometry. By treating a wide spectrum of problems in a common language, this Volume I offers both new insights and new solutions that should be useful to scientists, and engineers working in different areas related with the development and building of intelligent machines. Each chapter is written in accessible terms accompanied by numerous examples, figures and a complementary appendix on Clifford algebras, all to clarify the theory and the crucial aspects of the application of geometric algebra to problems in graphics engineering, image processing, pattern recognition, computer vision, machine learning, neural computing and cognitive systems.