Computer Vision

Introduction
In the previous chapter, you studied the concepts of Artificial Intelligence for Data Sciences. It is a
concept to unify statistics, data analysis, machine learning and their related methods in order to
understand and analyse actual phenomena with data.

As we all know, artificial intelligence is a technique that enables computers to mimic human
intelligence. As humans we can see things, analyse it and then do the required action on the basis of
what we see.

But can machines do the same? Can machines have the eyes that humans have? If you answered Yes,
then you are absolutely right. The Computer Vision domain of Artificial Intelligence, enables machines
to see through images or visual data, process and analyse them on the basis of algorithms and
methods in order to analyse actual phenomena with images.

Now before we get into the concepts of Computer Vision, let us experience this domain with the help
of the following game:

* Emoji Scavenger Hunt :

https://emojiscavengerhunt.withgoogle.com/

Go to the link and try to play the game of Emoji Scavenger Hunt. The challenge here is to find 8 items
within the time limit to pass.

Did you manage to win?

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What was the strategy that you applied to win this game?

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Was the computer able to identify all the items you brought in front of it?

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* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Did the lighting of the room affect the identifying of items by the machine?

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Applications of Computer Vision

The concept of computer vision was first introduced in the 1970s. All these new applications of
computer vision excited everyone. Having said that, the computer vision technology advanced enough
to make these applications available to everyone at ease today. However, in recent years the world
witnessed a significant leap in technology that has put computer vision on the priority list of many
industries. Let us look at some of them:

Facial Recognition*: With the advent of smart cities and smart homes,
Computer Vision plays a vital role in making the home smarter. Security
being the most important application involves use of Computer Vision
for facial recognition. It can be either guest recognition or log
maintenance of the visitors.

It also finds its application in schools for an attendance system based on

facial recognition of students.

Face Filters*: The modern-day apps like Instagram and snapchat have
a lot of features based on the usage of computer vision. The
application of face filters is one among them. Through the camera the
machine or the algorithm is able to identify the facial dynamics of the
person and applies the facial filter selected.

Google’s Search by Image*: The maximum amount

of searching for data on Google’s search engine comes
from textual data, but at the same time it has an
interesting feature of getting search results through an
image. This uses Computer Vision as it compares
different features of the input image to the database
of images and give us the search result while at the
same time analysing various features of the image.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Computer Vision in Retail*: The retail field has been one of the
fastest growing field and at the same time is using Computer
Vision for making the user experience more fruitful. Retailers can
use Computer Vision techniques to track customers’ movements
through stores, analyse navigational routes and detect walking
patterns.
Inventory Management is another such application. Through
security camera image analysis, a Computer Vision algorithm can
generate a very accurate estimate of the items available in the
store. Also, it can analyse the use of shelf space to identify
suboptimal configurations and suggest better item placement.

Self-Driving Cars: Computer Vision is the fundamental

technology behind developing autonomous vehicles.
Most leading car manufacturers in the world are
reaping the benefits of investing in artificial intelligence
for developing on-road versions of hands-free
technology.

This involves the process of identifying the objects,

getting navigational routes and also at the same time
environment monitoring.

Medical Imaging*: For the last decades, computer-

supported medical imaging application has been a
trustworthy help for physicians. It doesn’t only
create and analyse images, but also becomes an
assistant and helps doctors with their interpretation.
The application is used to read and convert 2D scan
images into interactive 3D models that enable
medical professionals to gain a detailed
understanding of a patient’s health condition.

Google Translate App*: All you need to do to read signs in a

foreign language is to point your phone’s camera at the words and
let the Google Translate app tell you what it means in your preferred
language almost instantly. By using optical character recognition to
see the image and augmented reality to overlay an accurate
translation, this is a convenient tool that uses Computer Vision.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Computer Vision: Getting Started
Computer Vision is a domain of Artificial Intelligence, that deals with the images. It involves the
concepts of image processing and machine learning models to build a Computer Vision based
application.

Computer Vision Tasks

The various applications of Computer Vision are based on a certain number of tasks which are
performed to get certain information from the input image which can be directly used for prediction
or forms the base for further analysis. The tasks used in a computer vision application are :

For Single For Multiple

Objects Objects

Object
Classification
Detection

Classification + Instance
Localisation Segementation

Classification
Image Classification problem is the task of assigning an input image one label from a fixed set of
categories. This is one of the core problems in CV that, despite its simplicity, has a large variety of
practical applications.

Classification + Localisation
This is the task which involves both processes of identifying what object is present in the image and
at the same time identifying at what location that object is present in that image. It is used only for
single objects.

Object Detection
Object detection is the process of finding instances of real-world objects such as faces, bicycles, and
buildings in images or videos. Object detection algorithms typically use extracted features and
learning algorithms to recognize instances of an object category. It is commonly used in applications
such as image retrieval and automated vehicle parking systems.

Instance Segmentation
Instance Segmentation is the process of detecting instances of the objects, giving them a category and
then giving each pixel a label on the basis of that. A segmentation algorithm takes an image as input
and outputs a collection of regions (or segments).
Basics of Images
We all see a lot of images around us and use them daily either through our mobile phones or computer
system. But do we ask some basic questions to ourselves while we use them on such a regular basis.

Don’t know the answer yet? Don’t worry, in this section we will study about the basics of an image:

Basics of Pixels
The word “pixel” means a picture element. Every photograph, in digital form, is made up of pixels.
They are the smallest unit of information that make up a picture. Usually round or square, they are
typically arranged in a 2-dimensional grid.

In the image below, one portion has been magnified many times over so that you can see its individual
composition in pixels. As you can see, the pixels approximate the actual image. The more pixels you
have, the more closely the image resembles the original.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Resolution
The number of pixels in an image is sometimes called the resolution. When the term is used to describe
pixel count, one convention is to express resolution as the width by the height, for example a monitor
resolution of 1280×1024. This means there are 1280 pixels from one side to the other, and 1024 from
top to bottom.

Another convention is to express the number of pixels as a single number, like a 5 mega pixel camera
(a megapixel is a million pixels). This means the pixels along the width multiplied by the pixels along
the height of the image taken by the camera equals 5 million pixels. In the case of our 1280×1024
monitors, it could also be expressed as 1280 x 1024 = 1,310,720, or 1.31 megapixels.

Pixel value
Each of the pixels that represents an image stored inside a computer has a pixel value which describes
how bright that pixel is, and/or what colour it should be. The most common pixel format is the byte
image, where this number is stored as an 8-bit integer giving a range of possible values from 0 to 255.
Typically, zero is to be taken as no colour or black and 255 is taken to be full colour or white.

Why do we have a value of 255 ? In the computer systems, computer data is in the form of ones and
zeros, which we call the binary system. Each bit in a computer system can have either a zero or a one.

Since each pixel uses 1 byte of an image, which is equivalent to 8 bits of data. Since each bit can have
two possible values which tells us that the 8 bit can have 255 possibilities of values which starts from
0 and ends at 255.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Grayscale Images
Grayscale images are images which have a range of shades of gray without apparent colour. The
darkest possible shade is black, which is the total absence of colour or zero value of pixel. The lightest
possible shade is white, which is the total presence of colour or 255 value of a pixel . Intermediate
shades of gray are represented by equal brightness levels of the three primary colours.

A grayscale has each pixel of size 1 byte having a single plane of 2d array of pixels. The size of a
grayscale image is defined as the Height x Width of that image.

Let us look at an image to understand about grayscale images.

Here is an example of a grayscale image. as you check, the value of pixels are within the range of 0-
255.The computers store the images we see in the form of these numbers.

RGB Images
All the images that we see around are coloured images. These images are made up of three primary
colours Red, Green and Blue. All the colours that are present can be made by combining different
intensities of red, green and blue.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.
Let us experience!

Go to this online link https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_rgb.asp. On the basis of this online

tool, try and answer all the below mentioned questions.

1) What is the output colour when you put R=G=B=255 ?

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2) What is the output colour when you put R=G=B=0 ?

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3) How does the colour vary when you put either of the three as 0 and then keep on varying
the other two?

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4) How does the output colour change when all the three colours are varied in same
proportion ?

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5) What is the RGB value of your favourite colour from the colour palette?

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Were you able to answer all the questions? If yes, then you would have understood how every colour
we see around is made.

Now the question arises, how do computers store RGB images? Every RGB image is stored in the form
of three different channels called the R channel, G channel and the B channel.

Each plane separately has a number of pixels with each pixel value varying from 0 to 255. All the three
planes when combined together form a colour image. This means that in a RGB image, each pixel has
a set of three different values which together give colour to that particular pixel.
For Example,

As you can see, each colour image is stored in the form of three different channels, each having
different intensity. All three channels combine together to form a colour we see.

In the above given image, if we split the image into three different channels, namely Red (R), Green
(G) and Blue (B), the individual layers will have the following intensity of colours of the individual
pixels. These individual layers when stored in the memory looks like the image on the extreme right.
The images look in the grayscale image because each pixel has a value intensity of 0 to 255 and as
studied earlier, 0 is considered as black or no presence of colour and 255 means white or full presence
of colour. These three individual RGB values when combined together form the colour of each pixel.

Therefore, each pixel in the RGB image has three values to form the complete colour.

Task :
Go to the following link www.piskelapp.com and create your own pixel art. Try and make a GIF using
the online app for your own pixel art.

* Images shown here are the property of individual organisations and are used here for reference purpose only.