Real-time Computer Vision with Ruby

Machine vision is a broad field and in many cases there are several independent approaches to solve a particular problem. Also, it is often difficult to preconceive which approach will yield the best results. The machine vision software can only be tested in a particular environment after the hardware platform to run it on is sufficiently developed and the software can be installed. Experience shows that—since hardware and software developers in a project often get to start and finish at the same time—it is important to preserve the agility of the software to be able to implement necessary changes in the final stages of a project. HornetsEye is an extension for Y. Matsumoto’s programming language for Ruby to facilitate rapid development of machine vision software. It is possible to provide a high amount of flexibility without sacrificing real-time capabilities. HornetsEye makes use of existing software projects such as Xine, libdc1394, OpenEXR, OpenGL, and RMagick. It was also necessary to access operating system interfaces such as V4L and XVideo under GNU/Linux (or VfW and DirectShow under Microsoft Windows).