A Biomimetic Active Stereo System with Torsional Control and Saccade-like Speed

We describe the design and performance characterization of a biomimetic active stereo vision system. Our key design objectives were to provide torsional control for each eye and to ensure that the vision system to execute saccade-like movements at the same time scales observed in humans. In total, the system has six degrees of freedom: horizontal, vertical and torsional rotation for each eye. We were able to achieve high speed using relatively low cost motors by minimizing the rotational inertia associated with the fastest axes, and allocating the largest rotational inertia to the slowest axes. We achieved this by using a 3D coordinate system where torsional rotation is performed first, rather than last as in the more conventional Fick and Helmholtz models