A fast active camera using linear actuators and visual feedback

We describe a biologically-inspired monocular camera platform for active vision systems. The design uses damped linear actuators to provide high angular velocities and angular accelerations at low cost and within a compact framework. The system lacks the mechanical precision of some high-performance heads, but we propose that use of visual feedback can compensate for loss of accuracy and repeatability. In support of this, we investigate control strategies based on visual feedback, and comment on their performance.