Knowledge-based vision and simple visual machines

The vast majority of work in machine vision emphasizes the representation of perceived objects and events: it is these internal representations that incorporate the 'knowledge' in knowledge-based vision or form the 'models' in model-based vision. In this paper, we discuss simple machine vision systems developed by artificial evolution rather than traditional engineering design techniques, and note that the task of identifying internal representations within such systems is made difficult by the lack of an operational definition of representation at the causal mechanistic level. Consequently, we question the nature and indeed the existence of representations posited to be used within natural vision systems (i.e. animals). We conclude that representations argued for on a priori grounds by external observers of a particular vision system may well be illusory, and are at best place-holders for yet-to-be-identified causal mechanistic interactions. That is, applying the knowledge-based vision approach in the understanding of evolved systems (machines or animals) may well lead to theories and models that are internally consistent, computationally plausible, and entirely wrong

Análise de movimento humano por visão computacional: uma síntese

O movimento humano é complexo, não linear e varia com o tempo. Nos últimos tempos, inúmeros investigadores têm-se dedicado ao desenvolvimento de sistemas automáticos capazes de realizar o seguimento, a análise e o reconhecimento deste tipo de movimento, utilizando técnicas de Visão Computacional. Neste artigo, serão resumidamente enumeradas e descritas algumas das técnicas actualmente empregues neste domínio

Introdução à Análise de Movimento usando Visão Computacional

Pretende-se com este trabalho fazer uma introdução ao que tem vindo a ser realizado no domínio do seguimento e análise de movimento recorrendo a visão computacional.Assim no primeiro capítulo deste relatório faremos referência aos vários tipos de movimento e analisaremos as fases que compõem um sistema comum de captura e análise de movimento, descrevendo sucintamente alguns trabalhos realizados nesta área.Seguidamente, no segundo capítulo, faremos uma apresentação mais detalhada da área do seguimento e análise de movimento humano de corpo inteiro; nomeadamente, no reconhecimento da pose e do reconhecimento do andar e de gestos.Finalmente, no terceiro e último capítulo, daremos ênfase à análise de imagem médica e exemplificaremos, sumariamente, algumas das suas aplicações.With this work we intend to introduce what has been done in the domain of tracking and motion analysis by using computational vision.Therefore in the first chapter of this report we will refer the various types of motion, and analyse the steps that compose a general system of movement capture and analysis, by succinctly describing some works done in this field.Then, in the second chapter we will do a more detailed study about the area of human entire body tracking and motion analysis; namely, in pose recognition and in the recognition of gait and gestures.Finally, in the third and last chapter, emphasis will be given to the medical images analysis and we will summarily exemplify some of its applications

Human Pose Estimation from Monocular Images : a Comprehensive Survey

Human pose estimation refers to the estimation of the location of body parts and how they are connected in an image. Human pose estimation from monocular images has wide applications (e.g., image indexing). Several surveys on human pose estimation can be found in the literature, but they focus on a certain category; for example, model-based approaches or human motion analysis, etc. As far as we know, an overall review of this problem domain has yet to be provided. Furthermore, recent advancements based on deep learning have brought novel algorithms for this problem. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of human pose estimation from monocular images is carried out including milestone works and recent advancements. Based on one standard pipeline for the solution of computer vision problems, this survey splits the problema into several modules: feature extraction and description, human body models, and modelin methods. Problem modeling methods are approached based on two means of categorization in this survey. One way to categorize includes top-down and bottom-up methods, and another way includes generative and discriminative methods. Considering the fact that one direct application of human pose estimation is to provide initialization for automatic video surveillance, there are additional sections for motion-related methods in all modules: motion features, motion models, and motion-based methods. Finally, the paper also collects 26 publicly available data sets for validation and provides error measurement methods that are frequently used

Learning object behaviour models

The human visual system is capable of interpreting a remarkable variety of often subtle, learnt, characteristic behaviours. For instance we can determine the gender of a distant walking figure from their gait, interpret a facial expression as that of surprise, or identify suspicious behaviour in the movements of an individual within a car-park. Machine vision systems wishing to exploit such behavioural knowledge have been limited by the inaccuracies inherent in hand-crafted models and the absence of a unified framework for the perception of powerful behaviour models. The research described in this thesis attempts to address these limitations, using a statistical modelling approach to provide a framework in which detailed behavioural knowledge is acquired from the observation of long image sequences. The core of the behaviour modelling framework is an optimised sample-set representation of the probability density in a behaviour space defined by a novel temporal pattern formation strategy. This representation of behaviour is both concise and accurate and facilitates the recognition of actions or events and the assessment of behaviour typicality. The inclusion of generative capabilities is achieved via the addition of a learnt stochastic process model, thus facilitating the generation of predictions and realistic sample behaviours. Experimental results demonstrate the acquisition of behaviour models and suggest a variety of possible applications, including automated visual surveillance, object tracking, gesture recognition, and the generation of realistic object behaviours within animations, virtual worlds, and computer generated film sequences. The utility of the behaviour modelling framework is further extended through the modelling of object interaction. Two separate approaches are presented, and a technique is developed which, using learnt models of joint behaviour together with a stochastic tracking algorithm, can be used to equip a virtual object with the ability to interact in a natural way. Experimental results demonstrate the simulation of a plausible virtual partner during interaction between a user and the machine

Facial recognition for human disposition identification

Human disposition identification and recognition has become one of the popular topics under OpenCV based on deep learning. The importance of this project is to recognize facial expressions. Here, the discussion will be done about the deep learning models and use it properly that can assist the image processing. There are many deep learning models and the suitable model for this project chose according to the ability to meet the system operation requirements such as speed and accuracy. Evolutionary methodology was implemented in this system design by using several image processing techniques include image acquisition, image enhancement (or known as pre-processing stages) and feature extraction. The system first applies some pre-processing stages to enhance the input image and reduce the noise. The face boundary will then be detected. The region of interest such as mouth and eyes will be determined, from which, features will be extracted. Finally, the face will be classified into classes using the CNN model based on the features extracted. The method was applied and tested on a dataset of faces (FER-2013) and the success rate obtained was 92.86%. For this project, it is targeted to get the accurate detection of human dispositions through the application and extract the emotions/classes in percentage

Video object tracking : contributions to object description and performance assessment

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

Active modelling of virtual humans

This thesis provides a complete framework that enables the creation of photorealistic 3D human models in real-world environments. The approach allows a non-expert user to use any digital capture device to obtain four images of an individual and create a personalised 3D model, for multimedia applications. To achieve this, it is necessary that the system is automatic and that the reconstruction process is flexible to account for information that is not available or incorrectly captured. In this approach the individual is automatically extracted from the environment using constrained active B-spline templates that are scaled and automatically initialised using only image information. These templates incorporate the energy minimising framework for Active Contour Models, providing a suitable and flexible method to deal with the adjustments in pose an individual can adopt. The final states of the templates describe the individual’s shape. The contours in each view are combined to form a 3D B-spline surface that characterises an individual’s maximal silhouette equivalent. The surface provides a mould that contains sufficient information to allow for the active deformation of an underlying generic human model. This modelling approach is performed using a novel technique that evolves active-meshes to 3D for deforming the underlying human model, while adaptively constraining it to preserve its existing structure. The active-mesh approach incorporates internal constraints that maintain the structural relationship of the vertices of the human model, while external forces deform the model congruous to the 3D surface mould. The strength of the internal constraints can be reduced to allow the model to adopt the exact shape of the bounding volume or strengthened to preserve the internal structure, particularly in areas of high detail. This novel implementation provides a uniform framework that can be simply and automatically applied to the entire human model