A 360-degree panoramic imaging system for still and video photography developed by Carnegie Mellon researchers is helping security officials keep an eye on all kinds action at the U.S. Open Golf Championship being held this week at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.

The technology has been developed by Eyesee360, Pittsburgh-based company founded in 1998 by Robotics Institute Associate Research Professor Sanjiv Singh, Research Professor Tony Stentz, associate director of the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), and Herman Herman a senior commercialization specialist at NREC.

Singh says the technology, based on reflective optics, was conceived nearly a decade ago in an effort to develop a solid state device that could capture a 360 degree view of a scene for telepresence, autonomous navigation by robots or automatic mapping of environments. The system was attached to a camera and placed in the center of Three Rivers Stadium where it recorded an inside view of the destruction when it was imploded on Feb. 11, 2001. Fox News then ran the footage as part of its news coverage of the event.

At the Open, the 360-degree imaging technologies are being used by "Threatviewer," a device manufactured by Augusta Systems of Morgantown, W. Va., which provides remote monitoring capabilities for industrial, military and homeland security. This technology's ability to see in all directions at once from a given location is being combined with Augusta Systems' product to collect, process and transmit data to security personnel.

For some samples of 360-degree imaging, go to http://www.eyesee360.com and click on examples.