Sneak by the TRex! (a demo of an Event-based vision sensor)

Conventional cameras sense the world one image at a time. By contrast, the emerging event sensor works entirely differently, and in a manner inspired by the human eye. Instead of taking full images at a time, each pixel in the event sensor independently detects changes in the light intensity and generates a pixel-level event only when this change exceeds a certain threshold. This results in a continuous stream of events that can be used to sense the outside world at rates far faster than most conventional sensors are capable of, at a fraction of the power cost, and while transmitting far less data for downstream computation and storage. Our demonstration of the event sensor is aimed at younger participants. Each will be tasked with moving as slowly as possible down a corridor under the watchful eye of T-Rex, with the hope of reaching the riches at the end. But, be careful! Move too quickly and he'll get you! The Event Sensor serves as a motion detector that, if triggered, will cause an onlooking TRex to roar. Onlookers can see what the t-rex sees (on a computer screen) motion-sensitive vision! (disclaimer: we actually have no real idea how dinosaur vision worked!).