Discriminative correlation filters in robot vision

Abstract: In less than ten years, deep neural networks have evolved into all-encompassing tools in multiple areas of science and engineering, due to their almost unreasonable effectiveness in modeling complex real-world relationships. In computer vision in particular, they have taken tasks such as object recognition, that were previously considered very difficult, and transformed them into everyday practical tools. However, neural networks have to be trained with supercomputers on massive datasets for hours or days, and this limits their ability adjust to changing conditions. This thesis explores discriminative correlation filters, originally intended for tracking large objects in video, so-called visual object tracking. Unlike neural networks, these filters are small and can be quickly adapted to changes, with minimal data and computing power. At the same time, they can take advantage of the computing infrastructure developed for neural networks and operate within them. The main contributions in this thesis demonstrate the versatility and adaptability of correlation filters for various problems, while complementing the capabilities of deep neural networks. In the first problem, it is shown that when adopted to track small regions and points, they outperform the widely used Lucas-Kanade method, both in terms of robustness and precision. In the second problem, the correlation filters take on a completely new task. Here, they are used to tell different places apart, in a 16 by 16 square kilometer region of ocean near land. Given only a horizon profile the coast line silhouette of islands and islets as seen from an ocean vessel it is demonstrated that discriminative correlation filters can effectively distinguish between locations. In the third problem, it is shown how correlation filters can be applied to video object segmentation. This is the task of classifying individual pixels as belonging either to a target or the background, given a segmentation mask provided with the first video frame as the only guidance. It is also shown that discriminative correlation filters and deep neural networks complement each other; where the neural network processes the input video in a content-agnostic way, the filters adapt to specific target objects. The joint function is a real-time video object segmentation method. Finally, the segmentation method is extended beyond binary target/background classification to additionally consider distracting objects. This addresses the fundamental difficulty of coping with objects of similar appearance.