6 ms·

Face recognition + the entire original series of Star Trek (w/ vids)

92 points by lbrandy 17y ago

jimbokun 17y ago
Great marketing, timed for the release of the new Star Trek movie. (Assuming that it's not an old demo, and its just proximity to the movie responsible for it being posted and up-voted here.)
stcredzero 17y ago
There was this one guy in The Original Series who appeared quite often as an extra. He was a roman guard in "Bread and Circuses" and also a red shirt in "Trouble with Tribbles." He was also in other episodes as an extra. I'd like to see a full face index, including the extras, so I could figure out how many episodes he was in. (And, no I'm not talking about David Ross/Lt. Galloway, who appeared in 9 TOS episodes. The extra I'm talking about was uncredited.) EDIT: I've been browsing Memory Alpha. There are quite a few actors who appeared in a bunch of episodes, some are in more episodes than major characters! 64 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/William_Blackburn http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/William_Blackburn 32 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Roger_Holloway http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Roger_Holloway 59 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Eddie_Paskey http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Eddie_Paskey
- teej 17y ago
  I was going to reply earlier with a google search coming up with a rough count for William Blackburn, but I couldn't figure out if he was your guy. http://tinyurl.com/cbqrfo http://tinyurl.com/cbqrfo (TinyURL'd to preserve formatting)
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    He's not. In terms of episodes, I think he's even more prolific!
wallflower 17y ago
This is just my opinion but I think the polygonal outline (which mimics your logo?) you use to show the face id makes the technology you've developed appear less professional than it should. Perhaps, a more processing-intensive desaturation/alpha blend (like they do in 20/20 with surveillance videos) where you highlight the head area?
- skwiddor 17y ago
  The arrowed side of the polygon indicates the direction of motion of the head. http://www.pittpatt.com/technology/ http://www.pittpatt.com/technology/
  - abstractbill 17y ago
    Right, the polygon makes sense, but I agree with wallflower - it's not very aesthetically pleasing. I think a good designer could come up with something that is both functional and nicer to look at.
    - skwiddor 17y ago
      and the moon on a stick too please
      - abstractbill 17y ago
        People who make amazing technical products, but fail to present them as well as they could, are often disappointed by the outcome.
    - anigbrowl 17y ago
      Video editor here. I much prefer it to a generic box or circle. Maybe an egg shape would be equally functional and prettier, but I liked the immediacy.
ilamont 17y ago
It's only a matter of time before someone creates an algorithm and app that takes publicly available and tagged photos of people (think FB profiles), and then uses the info to identify all of the people in a photo at a political rally, crime scene, or amateur porn site.
- dryicerx 17y ago
  It's already under development by several startups, including ours (except ours isn't for gov't uses, but to map your personal photos with names using facebook pictures). The cool thing about facebook's photos is that with their API, you can pull the name->XY locations of the picture which has a person tagged to it (making the facial detection portion super easy). Then with the set of name -> faces[], training the facial recognition database becomes even easier. Facebook it self has a even more sinister potential. Imagine they train a facial recognition database for everyone already tagged in photos on facebook. Then have a iPhone app, which you can take a picture of anyone... which would spit out the name/info/school/interests/everything. There is nothing technologically stopping this, and it will be just a matter of time. (puts on my tin foil hat)
  - nebula 17y ago
    http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.h... 6:47 minutes into the demo :)
  - mhb 17y ago
    Will this be a net positive or negative for society? Stalking-type use becomes possible, but maybe people behave better if they feel less anonymous.
    - sep332 17y ago
      This will be a huge change for people who live in cities, but are currently effectively disconnected from one another. Imagine even just knowing the name of each person you pass on the street, and knowing that they know your name. Huge social change. I think it's positive.
ieatpaste 17y ago
Anyone guess which algorithms they're using?
- lbrandy 17y ago
  Our own. Our company was founded as a CMU spin-off of the Robotics Institute to commercialize the work of one of our founders. See: http://pittpatt.com/about/ http://pittpatt.com/about/
  - pixcavator 17y ago
    >Our own. That doesn't help.
    - lbrandy 17y ago
      Luckily I also provided a link, which, should you visit, mentions a paper. It might help. We also have an entire website describing the technology stack built on top of the basic algorithm that allows it to be extended to entire videos for large scale data processing and large scale reasoning. We explain most of the pieces of the puzzle. See: http://pittpatt.com/technology/ http://pittpatt.com/technology/
  - dryicerx 17y ago
    Is there any way to contact you guys in regards to licensing your product? (I tried the contact form on the site, but no dice from it)
    - lbrandy 17y ago
      I just checked and the web form appears to be working correctly. Someone mentioned we had a glitch recently. Feel free to submit it again.
- ieatpaste 17y ago
  fyi Some relevant research papers by Dr. Henry Schneiderman Face View Synthesis Across Large Angles http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=5137&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=5137&... Semi-Supervised Self-Training of Object Detection Models http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=4875&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=4875&... A histogram-based method for detection of faces and cars http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=3530&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=3530&... Probabilistic Modeling of Local Appearance and Spatial Relationships for Object Recognition http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=543&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=543&m... Real-time Model-based Visual Tracking http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=1034&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=1034&...
ktharavaad 17y ago
Pittpatt definitely has the best face-detection algorithm I've seen in any commercial/opensource system. The algorithm they use can be found in these papers: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~hws/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~hws/ Maybe someday they'll get ported into openCV to replace the current detector which doesn't handle frontal features well.

92 points by lbrandy 17y ago

Great marketing, timed for the release of the new Star Trek movie. (Assuming that it's not an old demo, and its just proximity to the movie responsible for it being posted and up-voted here.)

stcredzero 17y ago

There was this one guy in The Original Series who appeared quite often as an extra. He was a roman guard in "Bread and Circuses" and also a red shirt in "Trouble with Tribbles." He was also in other episodes as an extra. I'd like to see a full face index, including the extras, so I could figure out how many episodes he was in. (And, no I'm not talking about David Ross/Lt. Galloway, who appeared in 9 TOS episodes. The extra I'm talking about was uncredited.) EDIT: I've been browsing Memory Alpha. There are quite a few actors who appeared in a bunch of episodes, some are in more episodes than major characters! 64 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/William_Blackburn http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/William_Blackburn 32 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Roger_Holloway http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Roger_Holloway 59 eps - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Eddie_Paskey http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Eddie_Paskey

teej 17y ago
I was going to reply earlier with a google search coming up with a rough count for William Blackburn, but I couldn't figure out if he was your guy. http://tinyurl.com/cbqrfo http://tinyurl.com/cbqrfo (TinyURL'd to preserve formatting)
- stcredzero 17y ago
  He's not. In terms of episodes, I think he's even more prolific!

wallflower 17y ago

This is just my opinion but I think the polygonal outline (which mimics your logo?) you use to show the face id makes the technology you've developed appear less professional than it should. Perhaps, a more processing-intensive desaturation/alpha blend (like they do in 20/20 with surveillance videos) where you highlight the head area?

skwiddor 17y ago
The arrowed side of the polygon indicates the direction of motion of the head. http://www.pittpatt.com/technology/ http://www.pittpatt.com/technology/
- abstractbill 17y ago
  Right, the polygon makes sense, but I agree with wallflower - it's not very aesthetically pleasing. I think a good designer could come up with something that is both functional and nicer to look at.
  - skwiddor 17y ago
    and the moon on a stick too please
    - abstractbill 17y ago
      People who make amazing technical products, but fail to present them as well as they could, are often disappointed by the outcome.
  - anigbrowl 17y ago
    Video editor here. I much prefer it to a generic box or circle. Maybe an egg shape would be equally functional and prettier, but I liked the immediacy.

ilamont 17y ago

It's only a matter of time before someone creates an algorithm and app that takes publicly available and tagged photos of people (think FB profiles), and then uses the info to identify all of the people in a photo at a political rally, crime scene, or amateur porn site.

dryicerx 17y ago
It's already under development by several startups, including ours (except ours isn't for gov't uses, but to map your personal photos with names using facebook pictures). The cool thing about facebook's photos is that with their API, you can pull the name->XY locations of the picture which has a person tagged to it (making the facial detection portion super easy). Then with the set of name -> faces[], training the facial recognition database becomes even easier. Facebook it self has a even more sinister potential. Imagine they train a facial recognition database for everyone already tagged in photos on facebook. Then have a iPhone app, which you can take a picture of anyone... which would spit out the name/info/school/interests/everything. There is nothing technologically stopping this, and it will be just a matter of time. (puts on my tin foil hat)
- nebula 17y ago
  http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.h... 6:47 minutes into the demo :)
- mhb 17y ago
  Will this be a net positive or negative for society? Stalking-type use becomes possible, but maybe people behave better if they feel less anonymous.
  - sep332 17y ago
    This will be a huge change for people who live in cities, but are currently effectively disconnected from one another. Imagine even just knowing the name of each person you pass on the street, and knowing that they know your name. Huge social change. I think it's positive.

ieatpaste 17y ago

Anyone guess which algorithms they're using?

lbrandy 17y ago
Our own. Our company was founded as a CMU spin-off of the Robotics Institute to commercialize the work of one of our founders. See: http://pittpatt.com/about/ http://pittpatt.com/about/
- pixcavator 17y ago
  >Our own. That doesn't help.
  - lbrandy 17y ago
    Luckily I also provided a link, which, should you visit, mentions a paper. It might help. We also have an entire website describing the technology stack built on top of the basic algorithm that allows it to be extended to entire videos for large scale data processing and large scale reasoning. We explain most of the pieces of the puzzle. See: http://pittpatt.com/technology/ http://pittpatt.com/technology/
- dryicerx 17y ago
  Is there any way to contact you guys in regards to licensing your product? (I tried the contact form on the site, but no dice from it)
  - lbrandy 17y ago
    I just checked and the web form appears to be working correctly. Someone mentioned we had a glitch recently. Feel free to submit it again.
ieatpaste 17y ago
fyi Some relevant research papers by Dr. Henry Schneiderman Face View Synthesis Across Large Angles http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=5137&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=5137&... Semi-Supervised Self-Training of Object Detection Models http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=4875&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=4875&... A histogram-based method for detection of faces and cars http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=3530&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=3530&... Probabilistic Modeling of Local Appearance and Spatial Relationships for Object Recognition http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=543&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=543&m... Real-time Model-based Visual Tracking http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=1034&menu_code=0307 http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=1034&...

ktharavaad 17y ago

Pittpatt definitely has the best face-detection algorithm I've seen in any commercial/opensource system. The algorithm they use can be found in these papers: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~hws/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~hws/ Maybe someday they'll get ported into openCV to replace the current detector which doesn't handle frontal features well.