Overview

Humans have a natural ability to recognize objects. Once we've seen an object, we can recognize that same object again, whether it is in the same or a different environment. But there are a growing number of tasks – from security to manufacturing – where it is more efficient, safe or cost-effective for the process of object recognition to be automated. In these cases, a computer with object recognition capabilities is used in conjunction with a camera or other visual input device.

The process of automating real-world object recognition requires very specific algorithms. These algorithms enable the computer to "recognize" an object that is presented to it by comparing it to a list of objects that have been stored in the computer's memory or a database. In order to be more like the human visual recognition process, this special type of algorithm must be able to recognize objects at different scales, rotations, poses and with variations in lighting. Oftentimes such technology applications require real-time processing, so the speed of the object recognition algorithm is also very important.