The VW is a general purpose image processing and computer vision library developed by the Autonomous Systems and Robotics (ASR) Area in the Intelligent Systems Division at the NASA Ames Research Center. VW has been publicly released under the terms of the NASA Open Source Software Agreement. They are working to establish out a process through which outside parties can actively participate as developers on this project.
The VW was implemented in the C++ programming language and makes extensive use of C++ templates and generative programming techniques for conciseness of expression, efficiency of operation, and generalization of implementation. The intended audience for the VW includes computer vision and robotics researchers and developers, as well as those who simply want to transform or enhance images. At this point in time, the VW may not be suitable for those who have little experience or familiarity with C++.
While substantial functionality is implemented in the VW, the goal of the library is not to provide advanced cutting-edge image processing or computer vision capabilities. Rather, the intent is to provide a solid efficient foundation implementing well known techniques and a common framework for doing advanced research and development in collaboration with others.
The NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline (ASP) is one of the flagship applications based on the Vision Workbench and is looking for contributors. ASP is a suite of automated geodesy & stereogrammetry tools designed for processing planetary imagery captured from orbiting and landed robotic explorers on other planets. It was designed to process stereo imagery captured by NASA spacecraft and produce cartographic products including digital elevation models (DEMs), ortho-projected imagery, and 3D models. These data products are suitable for science analysis, mission planning, and public outreach.
The Vision Workbench resulted from a collaboration between IRG and the Adaptive Control and Evolvable Systems (ACES) group to more effectively leverage technical expertise embodied in disparate ASR image processing and computer vision code bases by developing a framework implementing common functionality and providing a common infrastructure for collaboration and reuse of code.
Project owners + coordinators:
Vision Workbench project manager