... this is how we would control our drones in the near future, if this promising object recognition technology from Google goes mainstream (and gets an API). I think drones and other mobile robots could benefit a lot. Check this out:
Automatic object recognition in images is currently tricky. Even if a computer has the help of smart algorithms and human assistants, it may not catch everything in a given scene. Google might change that soon, though; it just detailed a new detection system that can easily spot lots of objects in a scene, even if they're partly obscured. The key is a neural network that can rapidly refine the criteria it's looking for without requiring a lot of extra computing power. The result is a far deeper scanning system that can both identify more objects and make better guesses -- it can spot tons of items in a living room, including (according to Google's odd example) a flying cat. The technology is still young, but the internet giant sees its recognition breakthrough helping everything from image searches through to self-driving cars. Don't be surprised if it gets much easier to look for things online using only vaguest of terms.
more to read:
source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/08/google-details-object-recognition-tech/?ncid=rss_truncated
source: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2014/09/building-deeper-understanding-of-images.html
Comments
I'm not sure most people know that along with the photos captured in Streetview, they've been running LiDAR as well, and have been for at least 5 years now. Let that sink in for a sec. With Google's "reality capture" campaign well underway and VR headsets, UAV's, and LiDAR all exploding, I might actually be around to see the virtual/augmented reality I was promised in Snow Crash and Virtual Light!
Thinking about self-driving cars, some of my friends think that a significant test will be self-navigation to safely park a car or truck on a ferry. See for example the following two images. There is basic training for ferry workers, however the actual behavior can vary by individual.
This is really a great achievement !
This may change ;)
On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
Yeah but i guess Google made some improvements. It may work better than openCV...
On StreetView, its certainly not working. In one view my dog is at the gate looking at a car being parked outside. In the next view which he is facing towards the camera they blanked out his eyes, so he looks like an eyeless dog. Hes basically completely white with no dark patches and smallish(whippet) and yet they got him confused with a person.
OpenCV exists today.
I would suggest to couple a mathematical morphology algorithm as an additional input to the neural network. I have shown in 1993 during my thesis that it made possible with the computers of that time (less powerful than today's phones) to recognize objects in a few seconds with a reliability of 90%, with very limited neurones in the net. I should dig this thesis out of my archives someday...