engineering

VIBOT

VIBOT is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand VIBOT rather than just read about it. In short: VIBOT is an abbreviation of VIsion and RoBOTics. It is a 2-year European Masters in Computer Vision and Robotics course, conducted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Universitat de Girona in Girona, Spain and Université de Bourgogne in Le Creusot, France.

Key takeaways

VIBOT belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect VIBOT to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of VIBOT from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

VIBOT is an abbreviation of VIsion and RoBOTics. It is a 2-year European Masters in Computer Vision and Robotics course, conducted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Universitat de Girona in Girona, Spain and Université de Bourgogne in Le Creusot, France. It started in 2006 as part of the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus programme.

Introduction VIBOT is a two-year Master Program in 3D Vision and Robotics accredited in 2006 by the European Commission in the framework of the Erasmus Mundus program, a co-operation and mobility program of the European Commission in the field of higher education in order to promote the European Union as a centre of excellence in learning around the world. It is the only Erasmus Mundus Master Program in 3D Vision and Robotics among the 103 Erasmus Mundus Master Programs accredited since 2004 in all disciplines. VIBOT Master students have courses in the three collaborating universities: Université de Bourgogne in France, University of Girona in Spain and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. They spend one semester in each of these three universities and the fourth semester in training. The admission of the brightest students from all over the world, some of whom were already working in companies, allows to create an international and mobile educated workforce of high level for the European community. VIBOT Master courses are given by faculties and visiting professors who belong to well-known research laboratories that have long-standing reputation for high quality research. The courses start from a comprehensive coverage of the prerequisites in the field of digital imaging (hardware and software) and basic image processing algorithms, and end up with research level teaching of their applications in the fields of robotics, medical imaging and 3D vision systems. The close location of research laboratories on campus allows the faculties to involve students at all stages of research and offer them many opportunities to participate in state-of-the-art research work.

Course structure The Masters Course is divided in four semesters, each having a value of 30 ECTS. All the courses are taught in English in the three partner universities. However, the order in which the students attend the universities has changed from the first generation to the second generation of the program. Irrespective of the generation, the last semester consists of a training period, which is an introduction to research carried out in one of the laboratories of the (wider) network.

First generation The so-called VIBOT first generation comprises the first five promotions of the program (promotions starting from 2006 to 2010). For this primer generation, the mobility order was the following: Scotland, Spain, France. The first semester was carried out on the campus of Heriot Watt University in Scotland (UK). Its constituting modules covered an introduction to signal and image processing, as well as the key related area of artificial intelligence. These subjects were supplemented by local culture studies, and training for drafting documents in English. The second semester took place in the Universitat de Girona, in Catalunya, Spain. Topics were currently highly relevant to scientific and industrial communities like the segmentation strategies, object recognition and description, the acquisition of 3D information, and the application of hardware for specific real time applications. This semester covered: fundamentals on robotics, autonomous robots, scene segmentation and interpretation, visual perception, real time image processing and study of the local culture. The third semester was hosted by the university Center Condorcet in Le Creusot, which is a delocalization of the Université de Bourgogne. The subjects covered were: pattern recognition, image analysis (including the problems of multiresolution analysis and deconvolution). These modules were supplemented by the study of various types of image modalities such as: infra-red, ultrasonic, radio-isotopique and X-ray imagery, with an emphasis on their application to medical imagery. A module of local culture was also provided.

Second generation The VIBOT second generation starts in 2011 with the sixth promotion and is expected to last at least for five promotions. The main changes consist in the mobility order. Unlike the first generation, the second generation spends the semesters in the following order: France, Spain, Scotland. The overall objective is to start from science fundamentals and low-level image processing, then to introduce mid-level image processing, computer vision and applications in medical imaging, and to end with robotics and high-level integration so that the main methods and algorithms in the state-of-art of computer vision and robotics (through both a theoretical and applied point of view) are covered. The organization of the semesters is as follows. An induction week is organized starting the first semester, in September, in Le Creusot during which the enrolled students are informed about the program, the assessment and the rules. The induction week also permits new students to meet second-year students or former VIBOT students. The first semester is held at Universite de Bougogne (UB) where the modules of Fundamentals on image processing, sensors and acquisition, as well as mathematics and computer science are taught. The second semester is hosted at Universitat de Girona (UdG) with subjects as improvements on image processing and pattern recognition, complements on computer vision and medical imaging and an introduction to robotics. The third semester is developed at Heriot-Watt University (HWU), and more advanced courses related to methods and high-level processing for real-time implementation and integration of vision and robotics are taught.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with VIBOT

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what VIBOT claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to VIBOT before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about VIBOT ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of VIBOT

In research: VIBOT appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses VIBOT in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: VIBOT is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics College and university associations and consortia in Europe, Computer science education in the United Kingdom, Engineering education in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for VIBOT outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study VIBOT in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what VIBOT means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain VIBOT out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is VIBOT in simple terms?

Why does VIBOT matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study VIBOT?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on VIBOT.