Event Cameras: A New Imaging Paradigm

Imagine the human eye as an optical sensor. It captures a constant stream of visual data, converting incoming light into electrochemical signals that allow the brain to create a panoramic view of the surroundings. But the retina that lines the back of the eye achieves much more than a simple photodiode: a succession of specialized cells decodes the raw optical data, extracting the most important features, discarding redundant information, and sending to the brain only what’s useful for decision making and producing a dynamic image. This crucial pre-processing step allows the brain to make sense of vast amounts of raw optical data more quickly, reconstructing a 3D view of the world in real time and allowing humans to react almost instantaneously to fast-moving events.