TAMPA — When you look at a picture, the only thing you can see are shadows. But Robinson Czajkowski is working on a way to reveal much more.
“It seems like science fiction but a lot of these technologies are becoming reality.”
With an ordinary camera and the algorithm he created, the USF grad student can see around corners and past obstacles to convert shadows back into the object that cast those shadows and turn it into 3D reconstructions.
In an example he shared, there are two figures.
“My idea is improving the size of it so we can put a person in there and reconstruct the color of their shirt, what they are holding,” said Czajkowski.
This technology could be used for military or law enforcement.
“Maybe there’s somebody standing behind the door. The officer can’t directly see them. But our camera could,” said Czajkowski.
Robinson, who started coding video games in middle school, says the 3D tech could also improve self-driving cars.
“Maybe a self-driving car could look at the shadows on the road or headlights and estimate the position of other cars that an ordinary human would not be able to see, said Czajkowski.
Associate Professor John Murray-Bruce says Czajkowski was his first student when he came to USF.
“I wouldn’t have imagined how far we would bring this research so it’s really cool to see what he’s done. So I’m really lucky to have him and I hope he stays longer than he needs to,” said Murray-Bruce.
It could be a decade more before this tech is widely used. But the research continues, and so do images of things that the naked eye can’t see.
