Is depth information and optical flow helpful for visual control?

Abstract

AbstractThe human visual system was shaped through natural evolution. We have used artificial evolution to investigate whether depth information and optical flow are helpful for visual control. Our experiments were carried out in simulation. The task was controlling a simulated racing car. We have used The Open Racing Car Simulator for our experiments. Genetic programming was used to evolve visual algorithms that transform input images (color, optical flow, or depth information) to control commands for a simulated racing car. We found that significantly better solutions were found when color, depth, and optical flow were available as input together compared with color, depth, or optical flow alone.