The origin, evolution and applications of visual bio-cybernetics concepts included in the original MIT-NASA reports for designing a Mars Rover (1965–1985)

Abstract

In this paper we will initially make a review of the ample and rich set of ideas found in [2, 3], but in the core of it we shall focus in the revision of concepts related to the bio-cybernetics of visual processes, artificial and machine vision and their consequences in the following 20 years, that is, from 1965 to 1985. In both cited references it is worthy to note not only the industrial description of the designs for autonomous vehicles, the vision acquisition, preprocessing and transmission systems, but at the same time the conceptual exuberance together with a very didactic exposition of details, far from the pre-assumed obscurity of a restricted-access technological report, but much closer to an educational effort of clarity oriented to the academic audience. Quite possibly, the scientific and technical impact of these reports would have been significantly increased at the time, should the legal obligation of keeping them of restricted access for a period of time not had been included. They can be downloaded from the NTRS – NASA Technical Reports Server (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/).