[Robotics Institute Seminar, October 13, 2006]Object Classification, Recognition and Segmentation by a Hierarchy of Abstract Fragments

Shimon Ullman
Ruth and Samy Cohn Professor of Computer Science
Weizmann Institute of Science

Time and Place
Mauldin Auditorium (NSH 1305)Refreshments 3:15 pmTalk 3:30 pm

Abstract
I will describe an approach to object recognition which combines general classification, individual recognition, and figure-ground segmentation. The approach is based on representing shapes within a class by a hierarchy of shared sub-structures called fragments, selected by maximizing the information delivered for classification. For the task of individual recognition, these fragments are generalized to become abstract fragments, representing the same object part under different viewing conditions. The resulting feature hierarchy is used to recognize new images by the application of a feed-forward sweep from low to high levels of the hierarchy, followed by a sweep from the high to low levels. Finally, image segmentation into an object and background is combined in this approach with the recognition process. Some relations to the human visual system will be briefly discussed.

Speaker Biography
Shimon Ullman is the Ruth and Samy Cohn Professor of Computer Science in the department of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He received his Bs.C. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Ph.D. from M.I.T, where he has been a Professor in the Brain and Cognitive Science Department and in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His main areas of research are human and computer vision, cognition, and brain modeling.
Speaker Appointments
For appointments, please contact Janice Brochetti (janiceb@cs.cmu.edu)