Estimating position & velocity in 3D space from monocular video sequences using a deep neural network

This work describes a regression model based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks for tracking objects from monocular video sequences. The target application being pursued is Vision-Based Sensor Substitution (VBSS). In particular, the tool-tip position and velocity in 3D space of a pair of surgical robotic instruments (SRI) are estimated for three surgical tasks, namely suturing, needle-passing and knot-tying. The CNN extracts features from individual video frames and the LSTM network processes these features over time and continuously outputs a 12-dimensional vector with the estimated position and velocity values. A series of analyses and experiments are carried out in the regression model to reveal the benefits and drawbacks of different design choices. First, the impact of the loss function is investigated by adequately weighing the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Gradient Difference Loss (GDL), using the VGG16 neural network for feature extraction. Second, this analysis is extended to a Residual Neural Network designed for feature extraction, which has fewer parameters than the VGG16 model, resulting in a reduction of ~96.44 % in the neural network size. Third, the impact of the number of time steps used to model the temporal information processed by the LSTM network is investigated. Finally, the capability of the regression model to generalize to the data related to "unseen" surgical tasks (unavailable in the training set) is evaluated. The aforesaid analyses are experimentally validated on the public dataset JIGSAWS. These analyses provide some guidelines for the design of a regression model in the context of VBSS, specifically when the objective is to estimate a set of 1D time series signals from video sequences.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Who's Better? Who's Best? Pairwise Deep Ranking for Skill Determination

We present a method for assessing skill from video, applicable to a variety of tasks, ranging from surgery to drawing and rolling pizza dough. We formulate the problem as pairwise (who's better?) and overall (who's best?) ranking of video collections, using supervised deep ranking. We propose a novel loss function that learns discriminative features when a pair of videos exhibit variance in skill, and learns shared features when a pair of videos exhibit comparable skill levels. Results demonstrate our method is applicable across tasks, with the percentage of correctly ordered pairs of videos ranging from 70% to 83% for four datasets. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach via sensitivity analysis of its parameters. We see this work as effort toward the automated organization of how-to video collections and overall, generic skill determination in video.Comment: CVPR 201

Segmental Spatiotemporal CNNs for Fine-grained Action Segmentation

Joint segmentation and classification of fine-grained actions is important for applications of human-robot interaction, video surveillance, and human skill evaluation. However, despite substantial recent progress in large-scale action classification, the performance of state-of-the-art fine-grained action recognition approaches remains low. We propose a model for action segmentation which combines low-level spatiotemporal features with a high-level segmental classifier. Our spatiotemporal CNN is comprised of a spatial component that uses convolutional filters to capture information about objects and their relationships, and a temporal component that uses large 1D convolutional filters to capture information about how object relationships change across time. These features are used in tandem with a semi-Markov model that models transitions from one action to another. We introduce an efficient constrained segmental inference algorithm for this model that is orders of magnitude faster than the current approach. We highlight the effectiveness of our Segmental Spatiotemporal CNN on cooking and surgical action datasets for which we observe substantially improved performance relative to recent baseline methods.Comment: Updated from the ECCV 2016 version. We fixed an important mathematical error and made the section on segmental inference cleare

Computer Vision in the Surgical Operating Room

Background: Multiple types of surgical cameras are used in modern surgical practice and provide a rich visual signal that is used by surgeons to visualize the clinical site and make clinical decisions. This signal can also be used by artificial intelligence (AI) methods to provide support in identifying instruments, structures, or activities both in real-time during procedures and postoperatively for analytics and understanding of surgical processes. Summary: In this paper, we provide a succinct perspective on the use of AI and especially computer vision to power solutions for the surgical operating room (OR). The synergy between data availability and technical advances in computational power and AI methodology has led to rapid developments in the field and promising advances. Key Messages: With the increasing availability of surgical video sources and the convergence of technologiesaround video storage, processing, and understanding, we believe clinical solutions and products leveraging vision are going to become an important component of modern surgical capabilities. However, both technical and clinical challenges remain to be overcome to efficiently make use of vision-based approaches into the clinic

Artificial intelligence and automation in endoscopy and surgery

Modern endoscopy relies on digital technology, from high-resolution imaging sensors and displays to electronics connecting configurable illumination and actuation systems for robotic articulation. In addition to enabling more effective diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, the digitization of the procedural toolset enables video data capture of the internal human anatomy at unprecedented levels. Interventional video data encapsulate functional and structural information about a patient’s anatomy as well as events, activity and action logs about the surgical process. This detailed but difficult-to-interpret record from endoscopic procedures can be linked to preoperative and postoperative records or patient imaging information. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, especially in supervised deep learning, can utilize data from endoscopic procedures to develop systems for assisting procedures leading to computer-assisted interventions that can enable better navigation during procedures, automation of image interpretation and robotically assisted tool manipulation. In this Perspective, we summarize state-of-the-art artificial intelligence for computer-assisted interventions in gastroenterology and surgery