William A. Wolovich

email: waw@lems.brown.edu
office: Barus and Holley 220
phone: (401) 863-2672
fax: (401) 863-9107
Box D, Engineering

Professor Wolovich's primary research areas are object modeling and measurement, geometric design, and machine intelligence applied to motion modeling and control. He and his students have been working on a variety of problems in all of these areas.

Object Modeling/Measurement
Professor Wolovich and his students have developed a new, primitive, conic/line decomposition of algebraic curves which (say) outline the boundaries of free-form objects. This decomposition has been used to define canonical curves for object identification and to obtain complete sets of geometric invariants for object identification and classification. They also are using implicit polynomial models for rapid and accurate modeling and measurement of sculptured surfaces.

Geometric Design
Professor Wolovich and his students are developing new methods for blending two or more two-dimensional profile curves in order to create three-dimensional sweep surfaces that are very easy to model, measure and modify. The blending and modification algorithms they use employ their primitive conic/line decomposition of algebraic curves.

Motion Modeling and Control
Professor Wolovich and his students have created motion signature surfaces to analyze databases containing normal and abnormal motion and to develop diagnostic procedures and treatment strategies for repetitive-stress and other ergonomic injuries. Other applications include new procedures for improving the way humans and future robots interact to perform complex tasks.

Textbooks
Professor Wolovich has published a textbook entitled Automatic Control Systems: Basic Analysis and Design by Saunders College Publishing which he uses to teach a popular course in basic control systems. He also teaches courses in both robotics and advanced multivariable control and has published the following books in these areas:

"Linear Multivariable Systems" New York: Springer-Verlag, 1974
"Robotics: Basic Analysis and Design" New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1987

Recent Publications

Automatic Control Systems: Basic Analysis and Design by Saunders College Publishing (now Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-03-023773-4, 1994. Table of Contents, Preface.

The Determination of Implicit Polynomial Canonical Curves, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 20 (8), 1998 (with Mustafa Unel).

Vision-Based System Identification and State Estimation, The Confluence of Vision and Control: Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences 237, 1998 (with Mustafa Unel).

Pose Estimation and Object Identification Using Complex Algebraic Representations, Pattern Analysis and Applications Journal, Vol. 1 (3), 1998 (with Mustafa Unel).

Shape Control Using Primitive Decompositions, Proceedings of SMI `99, International Conference on Shape Modeling and Applications, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, March 1999 (with Mustafa Unel).

On the Construction of Complete Sets of Geometric Invariants for Algebraic Curves, Proceedings of ICIAM `99, International Conference on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 1999 (with Mustafa Unel). Also in Advances in Applied Mathematics 24, 65-87, 2000.

A New Representation for Quartic Curves and Complete Sets of Geometric Invariants, International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 13 (8), 1999 (with Mustafa Unel).

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Last modified: September 7, 2000