Physics‐constrained non‐Gaussian probabilistic learning on manifolds

International audienceAn extension of the probabilistic learning on manifolds (PLoM), recently introduced by the authors, has been presented: In addition to the initial data set given for performing the probabilistic learning, constraints are given, which correspond to statistics of experiments or of physical models. We consider a non-Gaussian random vector whose unknown probability distribution has to satisfy constraints. The method consists in constructing a generator using the PLoM and the classical Kullback-Leibler minimum cross-entropy principle. The resulting optimization problem is reformulated using Lagrange multipliers associated with the constraints. The optimal solution of the Lagrange multipliers is computed using an efficient iterative algorithm. At each iteration, the Markov chainMonte Carlo algorithm developed for the PLoM is used, consisting in solving an Itô stochastic differential equation that is projected on a diffusion-maps basis. The method and the algorithm are efficient and allow the construction ofprobabilistic models for high-dimensional problems from small initial data sets and for which an arbitrary number of constraints are specified. The first application is sufficiently simple in order to be easily reproduced. The second one is relative to a stochastic elliptic boundary value problem in high dimension

Topics in Network Analysis with Applications to Brain Connectomics

Large complex network data have become common in many scientific domains, and require new statistical tools for discovering the underlying structures and features of interest. This thesis presents new methodology for network data analysis, with a focus on problems arising in the field of brain connectomics. Our overall goal is to learn parsimonious and interpretable network features, with computationally efficient and theoretically justified methods. The first project in the thesis focuses on prediction with network covariates. This setting is motivated by neuroimaging applications, in which each subject has an associated brain network constructed from fMRI data, and the goal is to derive interpretable prediction rules for a phenotype of interest or a clinical outcome. Existing approaches to this problem typically either reduce the data to a small set of global network summaries, losing a lot of local information, or treat network edges as a ``bag of features'' and use standard statistical tools without accounting for the network nature of the data. We develop a method that uses all edge weights, while still effectively incorporating network structure by using a penalty that encourages sparsity in both the number of edges and the number of nodes used. We develop efficient optimization algorithms for implementing this method and show it achieves state-of-the-art accuracy on a dataset of schizophrenic patients and healthy controls while using a smaller and more readily interpretable set of features than methods which ignore network structure. We also establish theoretical performance guarantees. Communities in networks are observed in many different domains, and in brain networks they typically correspond to regions of the brain responsible for different functions. In connectomic analyses, there are standard parcellations of the brain into such regions, typically obtained by applying clustering methods to brain connectomes of healthy subjects. However, there is now increasing evidence that these communities are dynamic, and when the goal is predicting a phenotype or distinguishing between different conditions, these static communities from an unrelated set of healthy subjects may not be the most useful for prediction. We present a method for supervised community detection, that is, a method that finds a partition of the network into communities that is most useful for predicting a particular response. We use a block-structured regularization and compute the solution with a combination of a spectral method and an ADMM optimization algorithm. The method performs well on both simulated and real brain networks, providing support for the idea of task-dependent brain regions. The last part of the thesis focuses on the problem of community detection in the general network setting. Unlike in neuroimaging, statistical network analysis is typically applied to a single network, motivated by datasets from the social sciences. While community detection has been well studied, in practice nodes in a network often belong to more than one community, leading to the much harder problem of overlapping community detection. We propose a new approach for overlapping community detection based on sparse principal component analysis, and develop efficient algorithms that are able to accurately recover community memberships, provided each node does not belong to too many communities at once. The method has a very low computational cost relative to other methods available for this problem. We show asymptotic consistency of recovering community memberships by the new method, and good empirical performance on both simulated and real-world networks.PHDStatisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145883/1/jarroyor_1.pd

Visual statistics using neural networks.

This thesis describes the application of statistical techniques to natural images as a means of gaining insight into the operation of low level vision. First, the statistical technique of principal component analysis is applied to a collection of natural images: a match with psychophysical data is found; and a solution to the dynamic range problem proposed. The problem of learning and calibrating psychological and physiological representations of space is t hen investigated. The grey level correlations in natural images are measured and their physical causes investigated. The resulting correlations are related both to psychological distortions of space and to the cortical representation of space in \T in macaque monkey. The interpretation in terms of a system calibrating itself using the correlations in the input signals is shown to produce accurate psychological and physiological predictions. Lastly the problems of creating low level models of the visual input is looked at using a framework originally proposed by Hinton and Sejnowski (1983). The way in which phase coherence of (neuronal) firing in a network can label the probability of an interpretation is demonstrated. A new search technique, inspired by the different time courses of inhibition and excitation in the cortex, is proposed for searching for the most likely visual interpretation. It is concluded that statistical techniques can provide insight into the operation of low level vision

Efficient Dense Registration, Segmentation, and Modeling Methods for RGB-D Environment Perception

One perspective for artificial intelligence research is to build machines that perform tasks autonomously in our complex everyday environments. This setting poses challenges to the development of perception skills: A robot should be able to perceive its location and objects in its surrounding, while the objects and the robot itself could also be moving. Objects may not only be composed of rigid parts, but could be non-rigidly deformable or appear in a variety of similar shapes. Furthermore, it could be relevant to the task to observe object semantics. For a robot acting fluently and immediately, these perception challenges demand efficient methods. This theses presents novel approaches to robot perception with RGB-D sensors. It develops efficient registration, segmentation, and modeling methods for scene and object perception. We propose multi-resolution surfel maps as a concise representation for RGB-D measurements. We develop probabilistic registration methods that handle rigid scenes, scenes with multiple rigid parts that move differently, and scenes that undergo non-rigid deformations. We use these methods to learn and perceive 3D models of scenes and objects in both static and dynamic environments. For learning models of static scenes, we propose a real-time capable simultaneous localization and mapping approach. It aligns key views in RGB-D video using our rigid registration method and optimizes the pose graph of the key views. The acquired models are then perceived in live images through detection and tracking within a Bayesian filtering framework. An assumption frequently made for environment mapping is that the observed scene remains static during the mapping process. Through rigid multi-body registration, we take advantage of releasing this assumption: Our registration method segments views into parts that move independently between the views and simultaneously estimates their motion. Within simultaneous motion segmentation, localization, and mapping, we separate scenes into objects by their motion. Our approach acquires 3D models of objects and concurrently infers hierarchical part relations between them using probabilistic reasoning. It can be applied for interactive learning of objects and their part decomposition. Endowing robots with manipulation skills for a large variety of objects is a tedious endeavor if the skill is programmed for every instance of an object class. Furthermore, slight deformations of an instance could not be handled by an inflexible program. Deformable registration is useful to perceive such shape variations, e.g., between specific instances of a tool. We develop an efficient deformable registration method and apply it for the transfer of robot manipulation skills between varying object instances. On the object-class level, we segment images using random decision forest classifiers in real-time. The probabilistic labelings of individual images are fused in 3D semantic maps within a Bayesian framework. We combine our object-class segmentation method with simultaneous localization and mapping to achieve online semantic mapping in real-time. The methods developed in this thesis are evaluated in experiments on publicly available benchmark datasets and novel own datasets. We publicly demonstrate several of our perception approaches within integrated robot systems in the mobile manipulation context.Effiziente Dichte Registrierungs-, Segmentierungs- und Modellierungsmethoden für die RGB-D Umgebungswahrnehmung In dieser Arbeit beschäftigen wir uns mit Herausforderungen der visuellen Wahrnehmung für intelligente Roboter in Alltagsumgebungen. Solche Roboter sollen sich selbst in ihrer Umgebung zurechtfinden, und Wissen über den Verbleib von Objekten erwerben können. Die Schwierigkeit dieser Aufgaben erhöht sich in dynamischen Umgebungen, in denen ein Roboter die Bewegung einzelner Teile differenzieren und auch wahrnehmen muss, wie sich diese Teile bewegen. Bewegt sich ein Roboter selbständig in dieser Umgebung, muss er auch seine eigene Bewegung von der Veränderung der Umgebung unterscheiden. Szenen können sich aber nicht nur durch die Bewegung starrer Teile verändern. Auch die Teile selbst können ihre Form in nicht-rigider Weise ändern. Eine weitere Herausforderung stellt die semantische Interpretation von Szenengeometrie und -aussehen dar. Damit intelligente Roboter unmittelbar und flüssig handeln können, sind effiziente Algorithmen für diese Wahrnehmungsprobleme erforderlich. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit entwickeln wir effiziente Methoden zur Repräsentation und Registrierung von RGB-D Messungen. Zunächst stellen wir Multi-Resolutions-Oberflächenelement-Karten (engl. multi-resolution surfel maps, MRSMaps) als eine kompakte Repräsentation von RGB-D Messungen vor, die unseren effizienten Registrierungsmethoden zugrunde liegt. Bilder können effizient in dieser Repräsentation aggregiert werde, wobei auch mehrere Bilder aus verschiedenen Blickpunkten integriert werden können, um Modelle von Szenen und Objekte aus vielfältigen Ansichten darzustellen. Für die effiziente, robuste und genaue Registrierung von MRSMaps wird eine Methode vorgestellt, die Rigidheit der betrachteten Szene voraussetzt. Die Registrierung schätzt die Kamerabewegung zwischen den Bildern und gewinnt ihre Effizienz durch die Ausnutzung der kompakten multi-resolutionalen Darstellung der Karten. Die Registrierungsmethode erzielt hohe Bildverarbeitungsraten auf einer CPU. Wir demonstrieren hohe Effizienz, Genauigkeit und Robustheit unserer Methode im Vergleich zum bisherigen Stand der Forschung auf Vergleichsdatensätzen. In einem weiteren Registrierungsansatz lösen wir uns von der Annahme, dass die betrachtete Szene zwischen Bildern statisch ist. Wir erlauben nun, dass sich rigide Teile der Szene bewegen dürfen, und erweitern unser rigides Registrierungsverfahren auf diesen Fall. Unser Ansatz segmentiert das Bild in Bereiche einzelner Teile, die sich unterschiedlich zwischen Bildern bewegen. Wir demonstrieren hohe Segmentierungsgenauigkeit und Genauigkeit in der Bewegungsschätzung unter Echtzeitbedingungen für die Verarbeitung. Schließlich entwickeln wir ein Verfahren für die Wahrnehmung von nicht-rigiden Deformationen zwischen zwei MRSMaps. Auch hier nutzen wir die multi-resolutionale Struktur in den Karten für ein effizientes Registrieren von grob zu fein. Wir schlagen Methoden vor, um aus den geschätzten Deformationen die lokale Bewegung zwischen den Bildern zu berechnen. Wir evaluieren Genauigkeit und Effizienz des Registrierungsverfahrens. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit widmet sich der Verwendung unserer Kartenrepräsentation und Registrierungsmethoden für die Wahrnehmung von Szenen und Objekten. Wir verwenden MRSMaps und unsere rigide Registrierungsmethode, um dichte 3D Modelle von Szenen und Objekten zu lernen. Die räumlichen Beziehungen zwischen Schlüsselansichten, die wir durch Registrierung schätzen, werden in einem Simultanen Lokalisierungs- und Kartierungsverfahren (engl. simultaneous localization and mapping, SLAM) gegeneinander abgewogen, um die Blickposen der Schlüsselansichten zu schätzen. Für das Verfolgen der Kamerapose bezüglich der Modelle in Echtzeit, kombinieren wir die Genauigkeit unserer Registrierung mit der Robustheit von Partikelfiltern. Zu Beginn der Posenverfolgung, oder wenn das Objekt aufgrund von Verdeckungen oder extremen Bewegungen nicht weiter verfolgt werden konnte, initialisieren wir das Filter durch Objektdetektion. Anschließend wenden wir unsere erweiterten Registrierungsverfahren für die Wahrnehmung in nicht-rigiden Szenen und für die Übertragung von Objekthandhabungsfähigkeiten von Robotern an. Wir erweitern unseren rigiden Kartierungsansatz auf dynamische Szenen, in denen sich rigide Teile bewegen. Die Bewegungssegmente in Schlüsselansichten werden zueinander in Bezug gesetzt, um Äquivalenz- und Teilebeziehungen von Objekten probabilistisch zu inferieren, denen die Segmente entsprechen. Auch hier liefert unsere Registrierungsmethode die Bewegung der Kamera bezüglich der Objekte, die wir in einem SLAM Verfahren optimieren. Aus diesen Blickposen wiederum können wir die Bewegungssegmente in dichten Objektmodellen vereinen. Objekte einer Klasse teilen oft eine gemeinsame Topologie von funktionalen Elementen, die durch Formkorrespondenzen ermittelt werden kann. Wir verwenden unsere deformierbare Registrierung, um solche Korrespondenzen zu finden und die Handhabung eines Objektes durch einen Roboter auf neue Objektinstanzen derselben Klasse zu übertragen. Schließlich entwickeln wir einen echtzeitfähigen Ansatz, der Kategorien von Objekten in RGB-D Bildern erkennt und segmentiert. Die Segmentierung basiert auf Ensemblen randomisierter Entscheidungsbäume, die Geometrie- und Texturmerkmale zur Klassifikation verwenden. Wir fusionieren Segmentierungen von Einzelbildern einer Szene aus mehreren Ansichten in einer semantischen Objektklassenkarte mit Hilfe unseres SLAM-Verfahrens. Die vorgestellten Methoden werden auf öffentlich verfügbaren Vergleichsdatensätzen und eigenen Datensätzen evaluiert. Einige unserer Ansätze wurden auch in integrierten Robotersystemen für mobile Objekthantierungsaufgaben öffentlich demonstriert. Sie waren ein wichtiger Bestandteil für das Gewinnen der RoboCup-Roboterwettbewerbe in der RoboCup@Home Liga in den Jahren 2011, 2012 und 2013

Improving Cloud System Reliability Using Autonomous Agent Technology

Cloud computing platforms provide efficient and flexible ways to offer services and computation facilities to users. Service providers acquire resources according to their requirements and deploy their services in cloud. Service consumers can access services over networks. In cloud computing, virtualization techniques allow cloud providers provide computation and storage resources according to users’ requirement. However, reliability in the cloud is an important factor to measure the performance of a virtualized cloud computing platform. Reliability in cloud computing includes the usability and availability. Usability is defined as cloud computing platform provides functional and easy-to-use computation resources to users. In order to ensure usability, configurations and management policies have to be maintained and deployed by cloud computing providers. Availability of cloud is defined as cloud computing platform provides stable and reliable computation resources to users. My research concentrates on improving usability and availability of cloud computing platforms. I proposed a customized agent-based reliability monitoring framework to increase reliability of cloud computing

New Frameworks for Structured Policy Learning

Sequential decision making applications are playing an increasingly important role in everyday life. Research interest in machine learning approaches to sequential decision making has surged thanks to recent empirical successes of reinforcement learning and imitation learning techniques, partly fueled by recent advances in deep learning-based function approximation. However in many real-world sequential decision making applications, relying purely on black box policy learning is often insufficient, due to practical requirements of data efficiency, interpretability, safety guarantees, etc. These challenges collectively make it difficult for many existing policy learning methods to find success in realistic applications. In this dissertation, we present recent advances in structured policy learning, which are new machine learning frameworks that integrate policy learning with principled notions of domain knowledge, which spans value-based, policy-based, and model-based structures. Our framework takes flexible reduction-style approaches that can integrate structure with reinforcement learning, imitation learning and robust control techniques. In addition to methodological advances, we demonstrate several successful applications of the new policy learning frameworks.</p

Human adaptive mechatronics methods for mobile working machines

Despite the trend of increasing automation degree in control systems, human operators are still needed in applications such as aviation and surgery, or machines used in remote mining, forestry, construction, and agriculture, just to name a few. Although there are research results showing that the performance between the operators of working machines differ significantly, there are currently no means to improve the performance of the human-machine system automatically based on the skill and working differences of the operators. Traditionally the human-machine systems are designed so that the machine is "constant" for every operator. On the contrary, the Human Adaptive Mechatronics (HAM) approach focuses on individual design, taking into account the skill differences and preferences of the operators. This thesis proposes a new type of a HAM system for mobile working machines called Human Adaptive Mechatronics and Coaching (HAMC) system that is designed to account for the challenges regarding to the measurement capability and the work complexity in the real-life machines. Moreover, the related subproblems including intent recognition, skill evaluation, human operator modeling, intelligent coaching and skill adaptivity are described. The intent recognition is solved using a Hidden Markov model (HMM) based work cycle modeling method, which is a basis for the skill evaluation. The methods are implemented in three industrial applications. The human operator modeling problem is studied from the structural models' perspective. The structural models can be used to describe a continuum of human operator models with respect to the operating points of the controlled machine. Several extensions and new approaches which enable more efficient parameter estimation using the experimental data are described for the conventional Modified Optimal Control Model (MOCM) of human operator. The human operator modeling methods are implemented to model a human operator controlling a trolley crane simulator. Finally, the concept of human adaptive Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is described. The analytic and knowledge-based approaches for realizing the HMI adaptation are presented and implemented for trolley crane simulator control