Publication

Learning the semantics of object-action relations by observation

Journal Article (2011)

Journal

The International Journal of Robotics Research

Pages

1229-1249

Volume

30

Number

10

Doc link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0278364911410459

File

Download the digital copy of the doc pdf document

Authors

  • Aksoy, Eren Erdal

  • Abramov, Alexey

  • Dörr, Johannes

  • Ning, Kejun

  • Dellen, Babette

  • Wörgötter, Florentin

Projects associated

Abstract

Recognizing manipulations performed by a human and the transfer and execution of this by a robot is a difficult problem. We address this in the current study by introducing a novel representation of the relations between objects at decisive time points during a manipulation. Thereby, we encode the essential changes in a visual scenery in a condensed way such that a robot can recognize and learn a manipulation without prior object knowledge. To achieve this we continuously track image segments in the video and construct a dynamic graph sequence. Topological transitions of those graphs occur whenever a spatial relation between some segments has changed in a discontinuous way and these moments are stored in a transition matrix called the {\it semantic event chain (SEC)}. We demonstrate that these time points are highly descriptive for distinguishing different manipulations. Employing simple sub-string search algorithms, semantic event chains can be compared and type-similar manipulations can be recognized with high confidence. As the approach is generic, statistical learning can be used to find the archetypal SEC of a given manipulation class. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated on a set of real videos showing hands manipulating various objects and performing different actions. In experiments with a robotic arm, we show that the SEC can be learned by observing human manipulations, transferred to a new scenario, and then reproduced by the machine.



Categories

automation, pattern recognition.

Scientific reference

E.E. Aksoy, A. Abramov, J. Dörr, K. Ning, B. Dellen and F. Wörgötter. Learning the semantics of object-action relations by observation. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 30(10): 1229-1249, 2011.