Gelsight Is A Portable Ultra-High-Resolution 3-D Imaging Technology

It requires a high resolution microscope to resolve really minute surfaces, something similar to confocal microscope or a white-light interferometer to make a 3D image of an object. But MIT scientists from Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have reduced the size and time required to analyze the micro surfaces to a minimum.

The MIT researchers Edward Adelson and Micah Kimo Johnson working on a project to make tactile sensors for Robot to integrate a sense of touch in them developed GelSight when they realized that the tactile sensors which they made required less resolution than what Gelsight actually offered. This made them curious to further improve the resolution of their new invention to bring it at par with present 3D imaging techniques.

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Figure shows Gelsight: The portable 3D resolution device. Image Credit: MIT NEWS

Gelsight is actually a combination and application of a much advanced Computer-vision Algorithm and a rectangular slab of transparent synthetic rubber which is painted on one of its sides; the paint containing tiny flakes of material to perform the job. To resolve any surface the slab is to be pressed with its painted side touching the object. Once it is pressed, the optical properties of rubber suddenly become uniform and help you in making 3D image of the surface which you want to see.

#-Link-Snipped-# is particularly useful in resolving those objects which are either too big to be accommodated under a microscope or those objects of which we require a very high resolution. Presently the invention can generate a 3D image of a feature of 2 micrometer dimensions and less than a micrometer depth. All this is done almost instantly while the problem with today's 3D imaging equipments like confocal microscope or a white-light interferometer are that they require a vibration free surface, moreover they take minutes or sometime hours to generate the required image. Gelsight is a portable device with which operator can operate holding it in his hand.

The new 3D imaging technique will find wide applications in the area of Biometrics. Forensics will also have a range of uses like registering if there is any impression on an empty shell of a gun. In the field of Avionics and manufacturing where the manufacturer want to test the surface quality and the integrity of their products.

However advantageous Gelsight may look like, there is also one major drawback. When the slab is pressed against the surface light of course passes through the synthetic rubber but it is also reflected off it. So if you were to have a 3D image of an emery board, you will observe a gelatinous combination of red and orange spots, rendering it difficult to make out the figure.

The previous version of Gelsight which Adelson and Johnson developed was capable to sense and report the thickness of ink on a $20 bill. The advanced version of the invention was presented by the duo at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in Vancouver, Canada held from August 7-11.

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