Centering behavior using peripheral vision

The ability to control egomotion using low resolution peripheral vision is crucial for enabling a small high resolution fovea to attend to features that require detailed examination. The bee-bot demonstrates the ability to use low resolution motion vision over large elds of view to steer between obstacles. The system uses the maximum ow observed in left and right peripheral visual elds to indicate obstacle proximity. Each peripheral eld constitutes one-third of a wide-angle lens. The left and right proximities are compared to steer through the gap. Negative feedback control of steering is able to tolerate inaccuracies in the signal estimation. This interpretation of the ows is based on the assumption that the camera is translating along the gaze vector. This condition is maintained under egomotion by active gaze stabilization. Head rotation is countered by eye rotation, and gaze is returned to the heading by rapid camera movements when necessary. The low cost of such basic navigation competence can free additional resources for attending to the environment .