I have been interested in machine vision since approximately 1998 when I bought my first frame grabber (a BTTV BT848) and then a black-and-white camera.
Blobcodes, or how I discovered a way to code information in a topological invariant of binary images and obtain arbitrarily deformable, easily computer-recognizable barcodes. A patent was filed by my university, a prototype made and presentations given, but later abandoned due to prior art in some obscure conference, together with hopes of a start-up.
Un petit système pour la lecture automatique de questionnaires à choix multiples, que j'avais expérimenté sur mes étudiants de TD d'informatique en 2003.