Plenary Lecture

Fuzzy Techniques in Computer Vision

Prof. Dr. Eng. Dorian Cojocaru
Automation and Robotics Department
Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics
University of Craiova
Bdul. Decebal 107, 200440 Craiova, Romania
cojocaru@robotics.ucv.ro

Abstract: The basic fuzzy theory, established by Lotfi A. Zadeh in the 60’s, deals with multi valued logic supporting a more subtle discrimination than true/false, yes/no, big/small, high/low or 1/0. Starting from that, a major advantage is the possibility to represent more “gray scaled” terms instead of “black and white” ones (e.g. very, something, rather etc.). Some disciples of fuzzy theory have seen in it the key tool for better solving any problem in any domain of application. Opposite, the skeptics saw fuzzy being a combination of other theories offering nice formulations but not very helpful additional practical results. It would be better to evaluate the usefulness of the fuzzy logic also in a fuzzy manner - using a scaled appreciation rather than a two level answer. Fuzzy techniques for Computer Vision applications represent a collection of different fuzzy approaches – methods and algorithms - to image processing. The applicability depends on the selected fuzzy technique and on the problem to be solved. Fuzzy techniques for Computer Vision applications, as all other types of fuzzy techniques, have three main stages: fuzzification, modification of membership values, and, if necessary, defuzzification. An analyze of different recent fuzzy approaches to Computer Vision is performed from the point of view of their basic concepts and of the results obtained.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Dorian Cojocaru graduated from University of Craiova in 1983, receiving the 5 years Engineering Diploma in Automation, specialization Computer Engineering. He received the Ph.D. in Automation from the Romanian Ministry of Education in 1997. He is active as a full university professor to the Automation and Robotics Department. He serves as the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics and member of the Senate of University of Craiova Romania. He is a fellow of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, IEEE Computer Society, Romanian Society for Automation and Technical Informatics SRAIT, Romanian Society for Robotics SRR, Romanian Association for Electronics Industry and Software ARIES. He is acting as expert for Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education ARACIS, National University Research Council CNCSIS, National Authority for Scientific Research ANCS and Ministry of Education and Research MedC. Dorian Cojocaru has served as Chairman and member of the Scientific/Program Committees of numerous scientific national and international conferences. His present areas of research activity are: Computer Vision, Visual servoing, Robotics and Applied Informatics. He has published five books, more than 100 papers in various scientific journals and international conference proceedings and he coordinated more than 10 research national and international programs.