Advanced computer vision will be embedded in more than 650 million mobile devices by 2022, according to a computer vision forecast from ABI Research. Examples of computer vision include security (as found in Apple Face ID), social networking (Apple animojis) and content (Google Clips).
Computer Vision Forecast
Computer vision is one of what likely will be many areas where new technologies come together to create families of applications and services that are not on most people’s radar today.
“The combination of AI, machine learning, and computer vision will help us use and interact with our devices in new and more profound ways – we will move from one-to-one connections between devices and the Web and remote services to an increasingly connected ecosystem of components that work together,” Michael Inouye, Principal Analyst at ABI Research said in a press release.
The research suggests that the processing will be done in the device and not the cloud. Though the release doesn’t say so, the reason may be that many of the applications for which computer vision will be used will tend to be time sensitive. This suggests that latency requirements would make it impractical to do the heavy lifting anywhere but on the device.
ABI’s Machine Vision in Devices report maps out an interesting but uncertain future. Mobile devices will remain the largest market for computer vision. AR and VR will be smaller discreet markets, and also may rely on mobile devices.
The study also notes that the range of front facing cameras may expand from the 100 degrees common today to 180 degrees.
The applications may be surprising, but the groundwork already has been laid. “While some of the markets supporting embedded vision like VR and AR may appear to be new, they are in fact much older than the recent product launches – they are simply spreading because the technology has reached a critical level where science fiction and imagination are starting to become reality,” Inouye said.