Intelligent Robotics and Industrial Applications using Computer Vision 2023
Monday 16 January 2023
Machine Vision - Production Applications (M1)
Session Chair:
Kurt Niel, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Austria)
9:05 – 9:50 AM
Cyril Magnin I
9:05
Conference Welcome
9:10IRIACV-320
Measurement of color difference in plastic parts of automobile using color sensor and robot arm, Yousun Kang and Duk Shin, Tokyo Polytechnic University (Japan) [view abstract]
The purpose of this study is to measure the color of plastic parts in automobiles and detect color differences from the original color specified by the automobile production plant. Many plastic parts have curved surfaces, making it difficult to move the color sensor close to the part for measurement automatically. In addition, since the color sensor is very sensitive to the distance from the surface of the part to be measured, the actual measurement is performed by a robot arm that can accurately adjust the distance. The robotic arm makes it possible to measure the color of a part in a stable condition without any shaking. A plastic part is captured from the Intel RealSense Depth Camera and the type of part is recognized from the color image. From the color image, segmentation is performed to recognize the area of the part. The 3D coordinate values obtained from the depth camera are transmitted to the robot arm, then the robot arm can approach the plastic part. We determine some positions from the segmented area and measure the color of plastic parts. We expect that the proposed color measurement system will contribute to improving efficiency and accuracy of color inspection in an automobile production plant.
9:30IRIACV-321
Tire defect detection with limited annotation, Chih-Hui Ho1, Ziheng Huang1, NaYeon Kim2, YouSuk Bae2, and Nuno Vasconcelos1; 1University of California, San Diego (United States) and 2Tech University of Korea (Republic of Korea) [view abstract]
Tire defect detection has significant industrial value and has been a research topic in both academia and industry. Despite its importance, prior works does not considered the practical manufacturing circumstances, where there are only limited annotation for the defect. Such limitation hinders the prior works from deploying to the real-world system. To address the problem of Tire Defect Detection with Limited Annotation (TTDLA), we proposed a novel framework, denoted as tire defect detection with Self-Supervision and Synthetic data (or S3). S3 first uses self-supervised learning to train the encoder without using any labeled data in the pretraining stage. The encoder is then adopted as the encoder of the Faster-RCNN detector in the fine-tuning stage. In addition, we proposed an algorithm to generate synthesized image by pasting defects randomly onto the regular image. Experiments demonstrate that both self-supervised learning and synthesized data boost the performance of the detector under TTDLA scenario.
10:20 – 10:50 AM Coffee Break
Machine Vision - In the Field (M2.1)
Session Chair:
Kurt Niel, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Austria)
10:50 – 11:50 AM
Cyril Magnin I
10:50IRIACV-323
3D joist perception, detection, and climbing for hexapod robots, Yibin Li and Avideh Zakhor, University of California, Berkeley (United States) [view abstract]
Avoiding obstacles is challenging for autonomous robotic systems. In this work, we examine obstacle avoidance for legged hexapods, as it relates to climbing over randomly placed wooden joists. We formulate the task as a 3D joist detection problem and propose a detect-plan-act pipeline using a SLAM algorithm to generate a pointcloud and a grid map to expose high obstacles such as joists. A line detector is applied on the grid map to extract parametric information of the joist, such as height, width, orientation, and distance; based on this information the hexapod plans a sequence of leg movements to either climb over the joist or move sideways. We show that our perception and path planning module work well on the real-world joists with different heights and orientations.
11:10IRIACV-324
Terrain segmentation for commercial vehicles and working machines, Raimund Edlinger, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Austria) [view abstract]
In the field of automated working machines, not only is the general trend towards automation in industry, transport and logistics reflected, but new areas of application and markets are also constantly emerging. In this paper we present a pipeline for terrain classification in offroad environments and in the field of "automated maintenance of slopes", which offers potential for solving numerous socio-economic needs. Working tasks can be made more efficient, more ergonomic and, in particular, much safer, because mature, automated vehicles are used. At present, however, such tasks can only be carried out remotely or semi-automatically, under the supervision of a trained specialist. This only partially facilitates the work. The real benefit only comes when the supervising person is released from this task and is able to pursue other work. In addition to the development of a safe integrated system and sensor concept for use in public spaces as a basic prerequisite for vehicles licensed in the future, increased situational awareness of mobile systems through machine learning in order to increase their efficiency and flexibility is also of great importance.
11:30IRIACV-325
Visual odometry and mapping using a thermal vision system in poor vision conditions, Raimund Edlinger, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Austria) [view abstract]
In the past decades, developments in the field of computer vision have made both the software and hardware more capable and more easily accessible. This has enabled otherwise complex vision systems to be used in other fields, such as autonomous robotics. Although vision systems in the visible light spectrum are commonplace in robotics nowadays, the thermal spectrum is still rarely used, even though it offers certain advantages. A thermal camera can sense the temperature of objects, is independent of illumination and can actually see through heavy smoke and fog. This makes it a useful tool in particular in the field of rescue robotics, where poor vision conditions are to be expected. In this paper, the feasibility of using two thermal cameras in a stereo vision setup to map indoor scenes is to be examined. It is meant to allow an autonomous robot to perceive its indoor surroundings as a 3D space, even in poor vision conditions. The biggest challenges are the calibration of thermal cameras and the proper filtering of the raw image and the resulting disparity map. Simple and easily implemented solutions are proposed for each of these issues.
Biometric Authentication (M2.2)
Session Chair:
Kurt Niel, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Austria)
11:50 AM – 12:30 PM
Cyril Magnin I
11:50IRIACV-326
Automated dataset collection pipeline for lip motion authentication, Shad Torrie, Andrew Sumsion, Casey Sun, and Dah-Jye Lee, Brigham Young University (United States) [view abstract]
Biometric authentication takes on many forms. Some of the more researched forms are fingerprint and facial authentication. Due to the amounts of research in these areas there are benchmark datasets easily accessible for new researchers to utilize when evaluating new systems. A newer, less researched biometric method is that of lip motion authentication. These systems entail a user producing a lip motion password to authenticate, meaning they must utter the same word or phrase to gain access. Because this method is less researched, there is no large-scale dataset that can be used to compare methods as well as determine the actual levels of security that they provide. We propose an automated dataset collection pipeline that extracts a lip motion authentication dataset from collections of videos. This dataset collection pipeline will enable the collection of large-scale datasets for this problem thus advancing the capability of lip motion authentication systems.
12:10IRIACV-327
Comparing the transfer of identity across a racial transformation, Dah-Jye Lee, Andrew Sumsion, Shad Torrie, and Casey Sun, Brigham Young University (United States) [view abstract]
As facial authentication systems become an increasingly advantageous technology, the subtle inaccuracy under certain subgroups grows in importance. As researchers perform data augmentation to increase subgroup accuracies, it is critical that the data augmentation approaches are understood. We specifically research the impact that the data augmentation method of racial transformation has upon the identity of the individual according to a facial authentication network. This demonstrates whether the racial transformation maintains critical aspects to an individual identity or whether the data augmentation method creates the equivalence of an entirely new individual for networks to train upon. We demonstrate our method for racial transformation based on other top research articles methods, display the embedding distance distribution of augmented faces compared with the embedding distance of non-augmented faces and explain to what extent racial transformation maintains critical aspects to an individual’s identity.
12:30 – 2:00 PM Lunch
Monday 16 January PLENARY: Neural Operators for Solving PDEs
Session Chair: Robin Jenkin, NVIDIA Corporation (United States)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Cyril Magnin I/II/III
Deep learning surrogate models have shown promise in modeling complex physical phenomena such as fluid flows, molecular dynamics, and material properties. However, standard neural networks assume finite-dimensional inputs and outputs, and hence, cannot withstand a change in resolution or discretization between training and testing. We introduce Fourier neural operators that can learn operators, which are mappings between infinite dimensional spaces. They are independent of the resolution or grid of training data and allow for zero-shot generalization to higher resolution evaluations. When applied to weather forecasting, neural operators capture fine-scale phenomena and have similar skill as gold-standard numerical weather models for predictions up to a week or longer, while being 4-5 orders of magnitude faster.
Anima Anandkumar, Bren professor, California Institute of Technology, and senior director of AI Research, NVIDIA Corporation (United States)
Anima Anandkumar is a Bren Professor at Caltech and Senior Director of AI Research at NVIDIA. She is passionate about designing principled AI algorithms and applying them to interdisciplinary domains. She has received several honors such as the IEEE fellowship, Alfred. P. Sloan Fellowship, NSF Career Award, and Faculty Fellowships from Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Adobe. She is part of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network. Anandkumar received her BTech from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, her PhD from Cornell University, and did her postdoctoral research at MIT and assistant professorship at University of California Irvine.
3:00 – 3:30 PM Coffee Break
EI 2023 Highlights Session
Session Chair: Robin Jenkin, NVIDIA Corporation (United States)
3:30 – 5:00 PM
Cyril Magnin II
Join us for a session that celebrates the breadth of what EI has to offer with short papers selected from EI conferences.
NOTE: The EI-wide "EI 2023 Highlights" session is concurrent with Monday afternoon COIMG, COLOR, IMAGE, and IQSP conference sessions.
IQSP-309
Evaluation of image quality metrics designed for DRI tasks with automotive cameras, Valentine Klein, Yiqi LI, Claudio Greco, Laurent Chanas, and Frédéric Guichard, DXOMARK (France) [view abstract]
Driving assistance is increasingly used in new car models. Most driving assistance systems are based on automotive cameras and computer vision. Computer Vision, regardless of the underlying algorithms and technology, requires the images to have good image quality, defined according to the task. This notion of good image quality is still to be defined in the case of computer vision as it has very different criteria than human vision: humans have a better contrast detection ability than image chains. The aim of this article is to compare three different metrics designed for detection of objects with computer vision: the Contrast Detection Probability (CDP) [1, 2, 3, 4], the Contrast Signal to Noise Ratio (CSNR) [5] and the Frequency of Correct Resolution (FCR) [6]. For this purpose, the computer vision task of reading the characters on a license plate will be used as a benchmark. The objective is to check the correlation between the objective metric and the ability of a neural network to perform this task. Thus, a protocol to test these metrics and compare them to the output of the neural network has been designed and the pros and cons of each of these three metrics have been noted.
SD&A-224
Human performance using stereo 3D in a helmet mounted display and association with individual stereo acuity, Bonnie Posselt, RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine (United Kingdom) [view abstract]
Binocular Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) are a critical part of the aircraft system, allowing information to be presented to the aviator with stereoscopic 3D (S3D) depth, potentially enhancing situational awareness and improving performance. The utility of S3D in an HMD may be linked to an individual’s ability to perceive changes in binocular disparity (stereo acuity). Though minimum stereo acuity standards exist for most military aviators, current test methods may be unable to characterise this relationship. This presentation will investigate the effect of S3D on performance when used in a warning alert displayed in an HMD. Furthermore, any effect on performance, ocular symptoms, and cognitive workload shall be evaluated in regard to individual stereo acuity measured with a variety of paper-based and digital stereo tests.
IMAGE-281
Smartphone-enabled point-of-care blood hemoglobin testing with color accuracy-assisted spectral learning, Sang Mok Park1, Yuhyun Ji1, Semin Kwon1, Andrew R. O’Brien2, Ying Wang2, and Young L. Kim1; 1Purdue University and 2Indiana University School of Medicine (United States) [view abstract]
We develop an mHealth technology for noninvasively measuring blood Hgb levels in patients with sickle cell anemia, using the photos of peripheral tissue acquired by the built-in camera of a smartphone. As an easily accessible sensing site, the inner eyelid (i.e., palpebral conjunctiva) is used because of the relatively uniform microvasculature and the absence of skin pigments. Color correction (color reproduction) and spectral learning (spectral super-resolution spectroscopy) algorithms are integrated for accurate and precise mHealth blood Hgb testing. First, color correction using a color reference chart with multiple color patches extracts absolute color information of the inner eyelid, compensating for smartphone models, ambient light conditions, and data formats during photo acquisition. Second, spectral learning virtually transforms the smartphone camera into a hyperspectral imaging system, mathematically reconstructing high-resolution spectra from color-corrected eyelid images. Third, color correction and spectral learning algorithms are combined with a spectroscopic model for blood Hgb quantification among sickle cell patients. Importantly, single-shot photo acquisition of the inner eyelid using the color reference chart allows straightforward, real-time, and instantaneous reading of blood Hgb levels. Overall, our mHealth blood Hgb tests could potentially be scalable, robust, and sustainable in resource-limited and homecare settings.
AVM-118
Designing scenes to quantify the performance of automotive perception systems, Zhenyi Liu1, Devesh Shah2, Alireza Rahimpour2, Joyce Farrell1, and Brian Wandell1; 1Stanford University and 2Ford Motor Company (United States) [view abstract]
We implemented an end-to-end simulation for perception systems, based on cameras, that are used in automotive applications. The open-source software creates complex driving scenes and simulates cameras that acquire images of these scenes. The camera images are then used by a neural network in the perception system to identify the locations of scene objects, providing the results as input to the decision system. In this paper, we design collections of test scenes that can be used to quantify the perception system’s performance under a range of (a) environmental conditions (object distance, occlusion ratio, lighting levels), and (b) camera parameters (pixel size, lens type, color filter array). We are designing scene collections to analyze performance for detecting vehicles, traffic signs and vulnerable road users in a range of environmental conditions and for a range of camera parameters. With experience, such scene collections may serve a role similar to that of standardized test targets that are used to quantify camera image quality (e.g., acuity, color).
VDA-403
Visualizing and monitoring the process of injection molding, Christian A. Steinparz1, Thomas Mitterlehner2, Bernhard Praher2, Klaus Straka1,2, Holger Stitz1,3, and Marc Streit1,3; 1Johannes Kepler University, 2Moldsonics GmbH, and 3datavisyn GmbH (Austria) [view abstract]
In injection molding machines the molds are rarely equipped with sensor systems. The availability of non-invasive ultrasound-based in-mold sensors provides better means for guiding operators of injection molding machines throughout the production process. However, existing visualizations are mostly limited to plots of temperature and pressure over time. In this work, we present the result of a design study created in collaboration with domain experts. The resulting prototypical application uses real-world data taken from live ultrasound sensor measurements for injection molding cavities captured over multiple cycles during the injection process. Our contribution includes a definition of tasks for setting up and monitoring the machines during the process, and the corresponding web-based visual analysis tool addressing these tasks. The interface consists of a multi-view display with various levels of data aggregation that is updated live for newly streamed data of ongoing injection cycles.
COIMG-155
Commissioning the James Webb Space Telescope, Joseph M. Howard, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (United States) [view abstract]
Astronomy is arguably in a golden age, where current and future NASA space telescopes are expected to contribute to this rapid growth in understanding of our universe. The most recent addition to our space-based telescopes dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which launched on 25 December 2021. This talk will discuss the first six months in space for JWST, which were spent commissioning the observatory with many deployments, alignments, and system and instrumentation checks. These engineering activities help verify the proper working of the telescope prior to commencing full science operations. For the session: Computational Imaging using Fourier Ptychography and Phase Retrieval.
HVEI-223
Critical flicker frequency (CFF) at high luminance levels, Alexandre Chapiro1, Nathan Matsuda1, Maliha Ashraf2, and Rafal Mantiuk3; 1Meta (United States), 2University of Liverpool (United Kingdom), and 3University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) [view abstract]
The critical flicker fusion (CFF) is the frequency of changes at which a temporally periodic light will begin to appear completely steady to an observer. This value is affected by several visual factors, such as the luminance of the stimulus or its location on the retina. With new high dynamic range (HDR) displays, operating at higher luminance levels, and virtual reality (VR) displays, presenting at wide fields-of-view, the effective CFF may change significantly from values expected for traditional presentation. In this work we use a prototype HDR VR display capable of luminances up to 20,000 cd/m^2 to gather a novel set of CFF measurements for never before examined levels of luminance, eccentricity, and size. Our data is useful to study the temporal behavior of the visual system at high luminance levels, as well as setting useful thresholds for display engineering.
HPCI-228
Physics guided machine learning for image-based material decomposition of tissues from simulated breast models with calcifications, Muralikrishnan Gopalakrishnan Meena1, Amir K. Ziabari1, Singanallur Venkatakrishnan1, Isaac R. Lyngaas1, Matthew R. Norman1, Balint Joo1, Thomas L. Beck1, Charles A. Bouman2, Anuj Kapadia1, and Xiao Wang1; 1Oak Ridge National Laboratory and 2Purdue University (United States) [view abstract]
Material decomposition of Computed Tomography (CT) scans using projection-based approaches, while highly accurate, poses a challenge for medical imaging researchers and clinicians due to limited or no access to projection data. We introduce a deep learning image-based material decomposition method guided by physics and requiring no access to projection data. The method is demonstrated to decompose tissues from simulated dual-energy X-ray CT scans of virtual human phantoms containing four materials - adipose, fibroglandular, calcification, and air. The method uses a hybrid unsupervised and supervised learning technique to tackle the material decomposition problem. We take advantage of the unique X-ray absorption rate of calcium compared to body tissues to perform a preliminary segmentation of calcification from the images using unsupervised learning. We then perform supervised material decomposition using a deep learned UNET model which is trained using GPUs in the high-performant systems at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. The method is demonstrated on simulated breast models to decompose calcification, adipose, fibroglandular, and air.
3DIA-104
Layered view synthesis for general images, Loïc Dehan, Wiebe Van Ranst, and Patrick Vandewalle, Katholieke University Leuven (Belgium) [view abstract]
We describe a novel method for monocular view synthesis. The goal of our work is to create a visually pleasing set of horizontally spaced views based on a single image. This can be applied in view synthesis for virtual reality and glasses-free 3D displays. Previous methods produce realistic results on images that show a clear distinction between a foreground object and the background. We aim to create novel views in more general, crowded scenes in which there is no clear distinction. Our main contributions are a computationally efficient method for realistic occlusion inpainting and blending, especially in complex scenes. Our method can be effectively applied to any image, which is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively on a large dataset of stereo images. Our method performs natural disocclusion inpainting and maintains the shape and edge quality of foreground objects.
ISS-329
A self-powered asynchronous image sensor with independent in-pixel harvesting and sensing operations, Ruben Gomez-Merchan, Juan Antonio Leñero-Bardallo, and Ángel Rodríguez-Vázquez, University of Seville (Spain) [view abstract]
A new self-powered asynchronous sensor with a novel pixel architecture is presented. Pixels are autonomous and can harvest or sense energy independently. During the image acquisition, pixels toggle to a harvesting operation mode once they have sensed their local illumination level. With the proposed pixel architecture, most illuminated pixels provide an early contribution to power the sensor, while low illuminated ones spend more time sensing their local illumination. Thus, the equivalent frame rate is higher than the offered by conventional self-powered sensors that harvest and sense illumination in independient phases. The proposed sensor uses a Time-to-First-Spike readout that allows trading between image quality and data and bandwidth consumption. The sensor has HDR operation with a dynamic range of 80 dB. Pixel power consumption is only 70 pW. In the article, we describe the sensor’s and pixel’s architectures in detail. Experimental results are provided and discussed. Sensor specifications are benchmarked against the art.
COLOR-184
Color blindness and modern board games, Alessandro Rizzi1 and Matteo Sassi2; 1Università degli Studi di Milano and 2consultant (Italy) [view abstract]
Board game industry is experiencing a strong renewed interest. In the last few years, about 4000 new board games have been designed and distributed each year. Board game players gender balance is reaching the equality, but nowadays the male component is a slight majority. This means that (at least) around 10% of board game players are color blind. How does the board game industry deal with this ? Recently, a raising of awareness in the board game design has started but so far there is a big gap compared with (e.g.) the computer game industry. This paper presents some data about the actual situation, discussing exemplary cases of successful board games.
5:00 – 6:15 PM EI 2023 All-Conference Welcome Reception (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)
Tuesday 17 January 2023
10:00 AM – 7:30 PM Industry Exhibition - Tuesday (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)
10:20 – 10:50 AM Coffee Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM Lunch
Tuesday 17 January PLENARY: Embedded Gain Maps for Adaptive Display of High Dynamic Range Images
Session Chair: Robin Jenkin, NVIDIA Corporation (United States)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Cyril Magnin I/II/III
Images optimized for High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays have brighter highlights and more detailed shadows, resulting in an increased sense of realism and greater impact. However, a major issue with HDR content is the lack of consistency in appearance across different devices and viewing environments. There are several reasons, including varying capabilities of HDR displays and the different tone mapping methods implemented across software and platforms. Consequently, HDR content authors can neither control nor predict how their images will appear in other apps.
We present a flexible system that provides consistent and adaptive display of HDR images. Conceptually, the method combines both SDR and HDR renditions within a single image and interpolates between the two dynamically at display time. We compute a Gain Map that represents the difference between the two renditions. In the file, we store a Base rendition (either SDR or HDR), the Gain Map, and some associated metadata. At display time, we combine the Base image with a scaled version of the Gain Map, where the scale factor depends on the image metadata, the HDR capacity of the display, and the viewing environment.
Eric Chan, Fellow, Adobe Inc. (United States)
Eric Chan is a Fellow at Adobe, where he develops software for editing photographs. Current projects include Photoshop, Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Digital Negative (DNG). When not writing software, Chan enjoys spending time at his other keyboard, the piano. He is an enthusiastic nature photographer and often combines his photo activities with travel and hiking.
Paul M. Hubel, director of Image Quality in Software Engineering, Apple Inc. (United States)
Paul M. Hubel is director of Image Quality in Software Engineering at Apple. He has worked on computational photography and image quality of photographic systems for many years on all aspects of the imaging chain, particularly for iPhone. He trained in optical engineering at University of Rochester, Oxford University, and MIT, and has more than 50 patents on color imaging and camera technology. Hubel is active on the ISO-TC42 committee Digital Photography, where this work is under discussion, and is currently a VP on the IS&T Board. Outside work he enjoys photography, travel, cycling, coffee roasting, and plays trumpet in several bay area ensembles.
3:00 – 3:30 PM Coffee Break
5:30 – 7:00 PM EI 2023 Symposium Demonstration Session (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)
Wednesday 18 January 2023
10:00 AM – 3:30 PM Industry Exhibition - Wednesday (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)
10:20 – 10:50 AM Coffee Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM Lunch
Wednesday 18 January PLENARY: Bringing Vision Science to Electronic Imaging: The Pyramid of Visibility
Session Chair: Andreas Savakis, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Cyril Magnin I/II/III
Electronic imaging depends fundamentally on the capabilities and limitations of human vision. The challenge for the vision scientist is to describe these limitations to the engineer in a comprehensive, computable, and elegant formulation. Primary among these limitations are visibility of variations in light intensity over space and time, of variations in color over space and time, and of all of these patterns with position in the visual field. Lastly, we must describe how all these sensitivities vary with adapting light level. We have recently developed a structural description of human visual sensitivity that we call the Pyramid of Visibility, that accomplishes this synthesis. This talk shows how this structure accommodates all the dimensions described above, and how it can be used to solve a wide variety of problems in display engineering.
Andrew B. Watson, chief vision scientist, Apple Inc. (United States)
Andrew Watson is Chief Vision Scientist at Apple, where he leads the application of vision science to technologies, applications, and displays. His research focuses on computational models of early vision. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers and 8 patents. He has 21,180 citations and an h-index of 63. Watson founded the Journal of Vision, and served as editor-in-chief 2001-2013 and 2018-2022. Watson has received numerous awards including the Presidential Rank Award from the President of the United States.
3:00 – 3:30 PM Coffee Break
5:30 – 7:00 PM EI 2023 Symposium Interactive (Poster) Paper Session (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)
5:30 – 7:00 PM EI 2023 Meet the Future: A Showcase of Student and Young Professionals Research (in the Cyril Magnin Foyer)