No description available.

Cette thèse s'intéresse à des aspects du tournage, de la projection et de la perception du cinéma stéréo panoramique, appelé aussi cinéma omnistéréo. Elle s'inscrit en grande partie dans le domaine de la vision par ordinateur, mais elle touche aussi aux domaines de l'infographie et de la perception visuelle humaine. Le cinéma omnistéréo projette sur des écrans immersifs des vidéos qui fournissent de l'information sur la profondeur de la scène tout autour des spectateurs. Ce type de cinéma comporte des défis liés notamment au tournage de vidéos omnistéréo de scènes dynamiques, à la projection polarisée sur écrans très réfléchissants rendant difficile l'estimation de leur forme par reconstruction active, aux distorsions introduites par l'omnistéréo pouvant fausser la perception des profondeurs de la scène. Notre thèse a tenté de relever ces défis en apportant trois contributions majeures. Premièrement, nous avons développé la toute première méthode de création de vidéos omnistéréo par assemblage d'images pour des mouvements stochastiques et localisés. Nous avons mis au point une expérience psychophysique qui montre l'efficacité de la méthode pour des scènes sans structure isolée, comme des courants d'eau. Nous proposons aussi une méthode de tournage qui ajoute à ces vidéos des mouvements moins contraints, comme ceux d'acteurs. Deuxièmement, nous avons introduit de nouveaux motifs lumineux qui permettent à une caméra et un projecteur de retrouver la forme d'objets susceptibles de produire des interréflexions. Ces motifs sont assez généraux pour reconstruire non seulement les écrans omnistéréo, mais aussi des objets très complexes qui comportent des discontinuités de profondeur du point de vue de la caméra. Troisièmement, nous avons montré que les distorsions omnistéréo sont négligeables pour un spectateur placé au centre d'un écran cylindrique, puisqu'elles se situent à la périphérie du champ visuel où l'acuité devient moins précise. / This thesis deals with aspects of shooting, projection and perception of stereo panoramic cinema, also called omnistereo cinema. It falls largely in the field of computer vision, but it also in the areas of computer graphics and human visual perception. Omnistereo cinema uses immersive screens to project videos that provide depth information of a scene all around the spectators. Many challenges remain in omnistereo cinema, in particular shooting omnistereo videos for dynamic scenes, polarized projection on highly reflective screens making difficult the process to recover their shape by active reconstruction, and perception of depth distortions introduced by omnistereo images. Our thesis addressed these challenges by making three major contributions. First, we developed the first mosaicing method of omnistereo videos for stochastic and localized motions. We developed a psychophysical experiment that shows the effectiveness of the method for scenes without isolated structure, such as water flows. We also propose a shooting method that adds to these videos foreground motions that are not as constrained, like a moving actor. Second, we introduced new light patterns that allow a camera and a projector to recover the shape of objects likely to produce interreflections. These patterns are general enough to not only recover the shape of omnistereo screens, but also very complex objects that have depth discontinuities from the viewpoint of the camera. Third, we showed that omnistereo distortions are negligible for a viewer located at the center of a cylindrical screen, as they are in the periphery of the visual field where the human visual system becomes less accurate.

To navigate successfully in a previously unexplored environment, a mobile robot must be able to estimate the spatial relationships of the objects of interest accurately. A Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) sys- tem employs its sensors to build incrementally a map of its surroundings and to localize itself in the map simultaneously. The aim of this research project is to develop a SLAM system suitable for self propelled household lawnmowers. The proposed bearing-only SLAM system requires only an omnidirec- tional camera and some inexpensive landmarks. The main advantage of an omnidirectional camera is the panoramic view of all the landmarks in the scene. Placing landmarks in a lawn field to define the working domain is much easier and more flexible than installing the perimeter wire required by existing autonomous lawnmowers. The common approach of existing bearing-only SLAM methods relies on a motion model for predicting the robot’s pose and a sensor model for updating the pose. In the motion model, the error on the estimates of object positions is cumulated due mainly to the wheel slippage. Quantifying accu- rately the uncertainty of object positions is a fundamental requirement. In bearing-only SLAM, the Probability Density Function (PDF) of landmark position should be uniform along the observed bearing. Existing methods that approximate the PDF with a Gaussian estimation do not satisfy this uniformity requirement. This thesis introduces both geometric and proba- bilistic methods to address the above problems. The main novel contribu- tions of this thesis are: 1. A bearing-only SLAM method not requiring odometry. The proposed method relies solely on the sensor model (landmark bearings only) without relying on the motion model (odometry). The uncertainty of the estimated landmark positions depends on the vision error only, instead of the combination of both odometry and vision errors. 2. The transformation of the spatial uncertainty of objects. This thesis introduces a novel method for translating the spatial un- certainty of objects estimated from a moving frame attached to the robot into the global frame attached to the static landmarks in the environment. 3. The characterization of an improved PDF for representing landmark position in bearing-only SLAM. The proposed PDF is expressed in polar coordinates, and the marginal probability on range is constrained to be uniform. Compared to the PDF estimated from a mixture of Gaussians, the PDF developed here has far fewer parameters and can be easily adopted in a probabilistic framework, such as a particle filtering system. The main advantages of our proposed bearing-only SLAM system are its lower production cost and flexibility of use. The proposed system can be adopted in other domestic robots as well, such as vacuum cleaners or robotic toys when terrain is essentially 2D.

La sécurité des personnes et des équipements est un élément capital dans le domaine des transports routiers et ferroviaires. Depuis quelques années, les Passages à Niveau (PN) ont fait l’objet de davantage d'attention afin d'accroître la sécurité des usagers sur cette portion route/rail considérée comme dangereuse. Nous proposons dans cette thèse un système de vision stéréoscopique pour la détection automatique des situations dangereuses. Un tel système permet la détection et la localisation d'obstacles sur ou autour du PN. Le système de vision proposé est composé de deux caméras supervisant la zone de croisement. Nous avons développé des algorithmes permettant à la fois la détection d'objets, tels que des piétons ou des véhicules, et la localisation 3D de ces derniers. L'algorithme de détection d'obstacles se base sur l'Analyse en Composantes Indépendantes et la propagation de croyance spatio-temporelle. L'algorithme de localisation tridimensionnelle exploite les avantages des méthodes locales et globales, et est composé de trois étapes : la première consiste à estimer une carte de disparité à partir d'une fonction de vraisemblance basée sur les méthodes locales. La deuxième étape permet d'identifier les pixels bien mis en correspondance ayant des mesures de confiances élevées. Ce sous-ensemble de pixels est le point de départ de la troisième étape qui consiste à ré-estimer les disparités du reste des pixels par propagation de croyance sélective. Le mouvement est introduit comme une contrainte dans l'algorithme de localisation 3D permettant l'amélioration de la précision de localisation et l'accélération du temps de traitement. / Within the past years, railways undertakings became interested in the assessment of Level Crossings (LC) safety. We propose in this thesis an Automatic Video-Surveillance system (AVS) at LC for an automatic detection of specific events. The system allows automatically detecting and 3D localizing the presence of one or more obstacles which are motionless at the level crossing. Our research aims at developing an AVS using the passive stereo vision principles. The proposed imaging system uses two cameras to detect and localize any kind of object lying on a railway level crossing. The cameras are placed so that the dangerous zones are well (fully) monitored. The system supervises and estimates automatically the critical situations by detecting objects in the hazardous zone defined as the crossing zone of a railway line by a road or path. The AVS system is used to monitor dynamic scenes where interactions take place among objects of interest (people or vehicles). After a classical image grabbing and digitizing step, the processing is composed of the two following modules: moving and stationary objects detection and 3-D localization. The developed stereo matching algorithm stems from an inference principle based on belief propagation and energy minimization. It takes into account the advantages of local methods for reducing the complexity of the inference step achieved by the belief propagation technique which leads to an improvement in the quality of results. The motion detection module is considered as a constraint which allows improving and speeding up the 3D localization algorithm.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:47:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 NatalHC.pdf: 2764921 bytes, checksum: 846252ab05f6de9b65d1cf7bbe1aba09 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-04 / In this work we propose a technique that uses uncontrolled small format aerial images, or SFAI, and stereohotogrammetry techniques to construct georeferenced mosaics. Images are obtained using a simple digital camera coupled with a radio controlled (RC) helicopter. Techniques for removing common distortions are applied and the relative orientation of the models are recovered using projective geometry. Ground truth points are used to get absolute orientation, plus a definition of scale and a coordinate system which relates image measures to the ground. The mosaic is read into a GIS system, providing useful information to different types of users, such as researchers, governmental agencies, employees, fishermen and tourism enterprises. Results are reported, illustrating the applicability of the system. The main contribution is the generation of georeferenced mosaics using SFAIs, which have not yet broadly explored in cartography projects. The proposed architecture presents a viable and much less expensive solution, when compared to systems using controlled pictures / No presente trabalho, descrevemos uma metodologia para a constru??o de mosaicos georreferenciados a partir de imagens a?reas de pequeno formato, ou SFAI, consideradas n?o controladas. T?cnicas de Est?reo-Fotogrametria e de Vis?o Computacional s?o aplicadas para auxiliarem em resultados de qualidade e confiabilidade. As imagens s?o obtidas atrav?s de uma c?mera digital comum acoplada a um helic?ptero aeromodelo. T?cnicas para eliminar distor??es comuns s?o aplicadas e a orienta??o relativa dos modelos ? realizada baseada na geometria projetiva. Pontos reais do terreno s?o usados para executar a orienta??o absoluta, al?m de uma defini??o de escala e de um sistema de coordenadas que relaciona a imagem medida no terreno. O mosaico ser? manipulado em um SIG, fornecendo informa??o ?til a diferentes tipos de usu?rios, tais como pesquisadores, institui??es governamentais, pescadores e empresas de turismo. Resultados s?o gerados, ilustrando a aplicabilidade do sistema. A principal contribui??o ? a gera??o de mosaicos georreferenciados usando imagens a?reas de pequeno formato, o que tem sido pouqu?ssimo explorado em projetos de cartografia. A arquitetura proposta apresenta uma solu??o vi?vel e bem barata quando comparada com sistemas que utilizam imagens controladas

Text in Afrikaans / Die Jeugbediening binne die Nederduitse Gereforrneerde Kerk verkeer tans in 'n stroomversnelling, en roep om vemuwing en verandering. Onderliggend aan bierdie krisis wat ontstaan het, le die tydsgees van die postmodemisme. Laasgenoemde het 'n beslissende invloed op die wyse waarop die jongmense vandag die evangelie hoor en leer. Dit het ook 'n deurslaggewende invloed op geloofskommunikasie. Pierre Babin beredeneer in sy boek The New Era in Religious Communication vyf konsepte wat lig werp op die nuwe era wat aangebreek het in geloofskommunikasie en spreek daarrnee die krisis in hierdie nuwe era bevredigend aan. Hy benadruk die volgende hoofkonsepte, naamlik: • Die verskuiwing van die Gutenberg-era na die Oudiovisuele era • Die impak van die elektroniese media op geloof • Die weg van skoonheid • Die simboliese weg • Stereo-kategese. Die skrywer is van mening dat die hoofkonsepte, soos uitgewerk deur Babin, die basis le vir 'n effektiewe, kontemporere jeugbedieningsmodel vir die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. / The ministering of the gospel to the youth within the Dutch Reformed Church finds itself in a rapid at present and is calling for rejuvenation and change. Underlying to this crisis, is the spirit of the times known as Post Modernism. The latter has a decisive influence on the way the youth of today hear and learn the gospel. It also has a conclusive impact on communicating religion. Pierre Babin argued in his book The New Era in Religious Communication five concepts which cast light on the new era which has arrived in the communication of religion. These address the crisis of the new era effectively. He emphasizes the following main concepts: • The shift from the Gutenberg era to the audiovisual era • The impact of the electronic era on faith • The way of beauty • The symbolic way • Stereo catechesis. The author is of the opinion that these concepts, as formulated by Babin, pave the way for an effective, contemporary model for ministering the gospel to the youth within the South African context. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Diac. (Youth work)

La mise en oeuvre de systèmes avancés d’aide à la conduite (ADAS) basée vision, est une tâche complexe et difficile surtout d’un point de vue robustesse en conditions d’utilisation réelles. Une des fonctionnalités des ADAS vise à percevoir et à comprendre l’environnement de l’ego-véhicule et à fournir l’assistance nécessaire au conducteur pour réagir à des situations d’urgence. Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la détection et la reconnaissance des objets mobiles car leur dynamique les rend plus imprévisibles et donc plus dangereux. La détection de ces objets, l’estimation de leurs positions et la reconnaissance de leurs catégories sont importants pour les ADAS et la navigation autonome. Par conséquent, nous proposons de construire un système complet pour la détection des objets en mouvement et la reconnaissance basées uniquement sur les capteurs de vision. L’approche proposée permet de détecter tout type d’objets en mouvement en fonction de deux méthodes complémentaires. L’idée de base est de détecter les objets mobiles par stéréovision en utilisant l’image résiduelle du mouvement apparent (RIMF). La RIMF est définie comme l’image du mouvement apparent causé par le déplacement des objets mobiles lorsque le mouvement de la caméra a été compensé. Afin de détecter tous les mouvements de manière robuste et de supprimer les faux positifs, les incertitudes liées à l’estimation de l’ego-mouvement et au calcul de la disparité doivent être considérées. Les étapes principales de l’algorithme sont les suivantes : premièrement, la pose relative de la caméra est estimée en minimisant la somme des erreurs de reprojection des points d’intérêt appariées et la matrice de covariance est alors calculée en utilisant une stratégie de propagation d’erreurs de premier ordre. Ensuite, une vraisemblance de mouvement est calculée pour chaque pixel en propageant les incertitudes sur l’ego-mouvement et la disparité par rapport à la RIMF. Enfin, la probabilité de mouvement et le gradient de profondeur sont utilisés pour minimiser une fonctionnelle d’énergie de manière à obtenir la segmentation des objets en mouvement. Dans le même temps, les boîtes englobantes des objets mobiles sont générées en utilisant la carte des U-disparités. Après avoir obtenu la boîte englobante de l’objet en mouvement, nous cherchons à reconnaître si l’objet en mouvement est un piéton ou pas. Par rapport aux algorithmes de classification supervisée (comme le boosting et les SVM) qui nécessitent un grand nombre d’exemples d’apprentissage étiquetés, notre algorithme de boosting semi-supervisé est entraîné avec seulement quelques exemples étiquetés et de nombreuses instances non étiquetées. Les exemples étiquetés sont d’abord utilisés pour estimer les probabilités d’appartenance aux classes des exemples non étiquetés, et ce à l’aide de modèles de mélange de gaussiennes après une étape de réduction de dimension réalisée par une analyse en composantes principales. Ensuite, nous appliquons une stratégie de boosting sur des arbres de décision entraînés à l’aide des instances étiquetées de manière probabiliste. Les performances de la méthode proposée sont évaluées sur plusieurs jeux de données de classification de référence, ainsi que sur la détection et la reconnaissance des piétons. Enfin, l’algorithme de détection et de reconnaissances des objets en mouvement est testé sur les images du jeu de données KITTI et les résultats expérimentaux montrent que les méthodes proposées obtiennent de bonnes performances dans différents scénarios de conduite en milieu urbain. / Vision-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is a complex and challenging task in real world traffic scenarios. The ADAS aims at perceiving andunderstanding the surrounding environment of the ego-vehicle and providing necessary assistance for the drivers if facing some emergencies. In this thesis, we will only focus on detecting and recognizing moving objects because they are more dangerous than static ones. Detecting these objects, estimating their positions and recognizing their categories are significantly important for ADAS and autonomous navigation. Consequently, we propose to build a complete system for moving objects detection and recognition based on vision sensors. The proposed approach can detect any kinds of moving objects based on two adjacent frames only. The core idea is to detect the moving pixels by using the Residual Image Motion Flow (RIMF). The RIMF is defined as the residual image changes caused by moving objects with compensated camera motion. In order to robustly detect all kinds of motion and remove false positive detections, uncertainties in the ego-motion estimation and disparity computation should also be considered. The main steps of our general algorithm are the following : first, the relative camera pose is estimated by minimizing the sum of the reprojection errors of matched features and its covariance matrix is also calculated by using a first-order errors propagation strategy. Next, a motion likelihood for each pixel is obtained by propagating the uncertainties of the ego-motion and disparity to the RIMF. Finally, the motion likelihood and the depth gradient are used in a graph-cut-based approach to obtain the moving objects segmentation. At the same time, the bounding boxes of moving object are generated based on the U-disparity map. After obtaining the bounding boxes of the moving object, we want to classify the moving objects as a pedestrian or not. Compared to supervised classification algorithms (such as boosting and SVM) which require a large amount of labeled training instances, our proposed semi-supervised boosting algorithm is trained with only a few labeled instances and many unlabeled instances. Firstly labeled instances are used to estimate the probabilistic class labels of the unlabeled instances using Gaussian Mixture Models after a dimension reduction step performed via Principal Component Analysis. Then, we apply a boosting strategy on decision stumps trained using the calculated soft labeled instances. The performances of the proposed method are evaluated on several state-of-the-art classification datasets, as well as on a pedestrian detection and recognition problem.Finally, both our moving objects detection and recognition algorithms are tested on the public images dataset KITTI and the experimental results show that the proposed methods can achieve good performances in different urban scenarios.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoaoPAB.pdf: 1121359 bytes, checksum: 0140c2cdd16358b4d1f4ee69b79c5b3c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-05-19 / Large efforts have been maden by the scientific community on tasks involving locomotion of mobile robots. To execute this kind of task, we must develop to the robot the ability of navigation through the environment in a safe way, that is, without collisions with the objects. In order to perform this, it is necessary to implement strategies that makes possible to detect obstacles. In this work, we deal with this problem by proposing a system that is able to collect sensory information and to estimate the possibility for obstacles to occur in the mobile robot path. Stereo cameras positioned in parallel to each other in a structure coupled to the robot are employed as the main sensory device, making possible the generation of a disparity map. Code optimizations and a strategy for data reduction and abstraction are applied to the images, resulting in a substantial gain in the execution time. This makes possible to the high level decision processes to execute obstacle deviation in real time. This system can be employed in situations where the robot is remotely operated, as well as in situations where it depends only on itself to generate trajectories (the autonomous case) / Grandes esfor?os t?m sido despendidos pela comunidade cient?fica em tarefas de locomo??o de rob?s m?veis. Para a execu??o deste tipo de tarefa, devemos desenvolver no rob? a habilidade de navega??o no ambiente de forma segura, isto ?, sem que haja colis?es contra objetos. Para que isto seja realizado, faz-se necess?rio implementar estrat?gias que possibilitem a detec??o de obst?culos. Neste trabalho, abordamos este problema, propondo um sistema capaz de coletar informa??es sensoriais e estimar a possibilidade de ocorr?ncia de obst?culos no percurso de um rob? m?vel. C?meras est?reo, posicionadas paralelamente uma ? outra, numa estrutura acoplada ao rob?, s?o empregadas como o dispositivo sensorial principal, pos- sibilitando a gera??o de um mapa de disparidades. Otimiza??es de c?digo e uma estrat?gia de redu??o e abstra??o de dados s?o aplicadas ?s imagens, resultando num ganho substancial no tempo de execu??o. Isto torna poss?vel aos processos de decis?o de mais alto n?vel executar o desvio de obst?culos em tempo real. Este sistema pode ser empregado em situa??es onde o rob? seja tele-operado, bem como em situa??es onde ele dependa de si pr?prio para gerar trajet?rias (no caso aut?nomo)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoseSASS.pdf: 1375081 bytes, checksum: 1561bdbc1ba8feb7671abf9ebca84641 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-04-30 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / This work proposes a method to determine the depth of objects in a scene using a combination between stereo vision and self-calibration techniques. Determining the rel- ative distance between visualized objects and a robot, with a stereo head, it is possible to navigate in unknown environments. Stereo vision techniques supply a depth measure by the combination of two or more images from the same scene. To achieve a depth estimates of the in scene objects a reconstruction of this scene geometry is necessary. For such reconstruction the relationship between the three-dimensional world coordi- nates and the two-dimensional images coordinates is necessary. Through the achievement of the cameras intrinsic parameters it is possible to make this coordinates systems relationship. These parameters can be gotten through geometric camera calibration, which, generally is made by a correlation between image characteristics of a calibration pattern with know dimensions. The cameras self-calibration allows the achievement of their intrinsic parameters without using a known calibration pattern, being possible their calculation and alteration during the displacement of the robot in an unknown environment. In this work a self-calibration method based in the three-dimensional polar coordinates to represent image features is presented. This representation is determined by the relationship between images features and horizontal and vertical opening cameras angles. Using the polar coordinates it is possible to geometrically reconstruct the scene. Through the proposed techniques combination it is possible to calculate a scene objects depth estimate, allowing the robot navigation in an unknown environment / Este trabalho prop?e um m?todo para determinar a profundidade de objetos em cena utilizando uma combina??o das t?cnicas de vis?o est?reo e autocalibra??o. Determinando a dist?ncia relativa entre objetos visualizados e um rob? m?vel, dotado de uma cabe?a est?reo, ? poss?vel efetuar sua navega??o em ambientes desconhecidos. As t?cnicas de vis?o est?reo fornecem uma medida de profundidade a partir da combina??o de duas ou mais imagens de uma mesma cena. Para a obten??o de estimativas da profundidade dos objetos presentes nesta cena ? necess?rio uma reconstru??o da geometria da mesma. Para tal reconstru??o ? necess?rio o relacionamento das coordenadas tridimensionais do mundo com as coordenadas bidimensionais das imagens. Atrav?s da obten??o dos par?metros intr?nsecos das c?meras ? poss?vel fazer o relacionamento entre os sistemas de coordenadas. Estes par?metros podem ser obtidos atrav?s da calibra??o geom?trica das c?meras, a qual ? geralmente feita atrav?s da visualiza??o de um objeto padr?o de calibra??o com dimens?es conhecidas. A autocalibra??o das c?meras permite a obten??o dos par?metros intr?nsecos das mesmas sem a utiliza??o de um padr?o conhecido de calibra??o, sendo poss?vel a obten??o e a altera??o destes durante o deslocamento do rob? m?vel em um ambiente desconhecido. ? apresentado neste trabalho um m?todo de autocalibra??o baseado na representa??o de caracter?sticas da imagem por coordenadas polares tridimensionais. Estas s?o determinadas relacionando-se caracter?sticas das imagens com os ?ngulos de abertura horizontal e vertical das c?meras. Utilizando-se estas coordenadas polares ? poss?vel efetuar uma reconstru??o geom?trica da cena de forma precisa. Atrav?s desta combina??o das t?cnicas proposta ? poss?vel obter-se uma estimativa da profundidade de objetos cena, permitindo a navega??o de um rob? m?vel aut?nomo em um ambiente desconhecido

O entendimento dos princípios básicos do enovelamento proteico pode conduzir a muitas aplicações importantes. Embora não se conheçam todos os aspectos significativos envolvidos neste problema, experimentos e aproximações teóricas têm produzido avanços relevantes na sua compreensão, como, por exemplo, o papel dominante das forças hidrofóbicas. Com o propósito de contribuir para a identificação de alguns parâmetros determinantes no processo de folding, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste em estudar o potencial estéreo-hidrofóbico (isto é, o potencial hidrofóbico e um conjunto de especificidades estéricas adequadas) relacionado ao processo de enovelamento de proteínas globulares, evidenciando o papel das restrições estéricas e as características topológicas do estado nativo. Para tanto, empregou-se um modelo simplificado em rede cúbica, estudando-se, através de simulações Monte Carlo, o comportamento de mais de 40 cadeias tipo-proteínas, que apresentam estados nativos caracterizados pelos seguintes parâmetros topológicos: ordem de contato, χ, ordem de longo alcance e número φ de estruturas tipo grande manivela. Claramente, os resultados das simulações para as cadeias com configurações nativas, caracterizadas por baixo valor de χ e elevado valor de φ, são bastante diferenciados daqueles obtidos para as cadeias que apresentam configurações nativas com χ elevado e φ pequeno, evidenciando que o potencial estéreo-hidrofóbico, adotado neste trabalho, permite relacionar os comportamentos termodinâmico e cinético da cadeia tipo-proteína com os atributos topológicos da configuração nativa correspondente. Adicionalmente, mostrou-se que as restrições estéricas consideradas introduzem fortes mudanças na atividade configuracional, aumentando a estabilidade do estado nativo, bem como alterando, drasticamente, a curva da capacidade térmica, em função da temperatura, em comparação com os resultados das simulações obtidos com o potencial hidrofóbico (sem restrições estéricas). / The understanding of the basic principles of the protein folding process may lead to very important applications. Although all significant aspects of this problem are not yet known, experimental and theoretical results have given important contribution on the subject, as, for instance, about the dominant role of the hydrophobic forces. In order to contribute to the identification of significant ingredients for the folding process, the main goal of this work consists in studying the stereo-hydrophobic potential (that is, the hydrophobic potential and a set of steric specificities) related to the folding process of globular proteins, revealing the importance of the steric constraints and the role of the native structure. A minimalist lattice model was employed for this purpose, and more than forty distinct protein-like chains were studied. These chains were designed based on native structures characterized by topological parameters as contact order, χ, long range order and number φ of crankshaft-like structures. The Monte Carlo simulation results show clearly that the folding process depends strongly on the topological attributes of the native structure: thermodynamical and kinetic behavior for chains designed from native structures, presenting smaller χ and higher φ, are very distinguishable from those with higher χ and lower φ. Additionally it was shown that the steric constraints significantly modify the configurational activity, increasing the general conditions for the globule stability, as well changing drastically the shape of the thermal capacity behavior, as a function of the temperature, in comparison with the corresponding results obtained using the hydrophobic potential only, i.e., without the steric specificities.