Bayesian Multisensory Perception
Role within SENSOPAC
The SENSOPAC robot will collect data from different sensor modalities, e.g.
haptic data (touch sensors), proprioceptive data, and movement data (afferent
control commands). Processing these inputs is not trivial, as can be
seen from the following examples.
A probabilistic approach to multisensory perceptionIf a living creature or machine can collect information about the outside world through multiple sensor modalities, a key issue is the integration of the different sensory inputs. As an example one may consider observing a conversation, where visual and auditory input signals have to be combined in order to determine who said what. In more technical terms, we are concerned with the association between observations and their latent (not directly observable) sources. Hereto, we concentrate not only on the fusion (or integration) of different observations, but we explicitly model fission (or segregation), corresponding to the case that two or more observations do not stem from the same source. We treat this problem of data association as a structure inference task, for which we apply Bayesian model selection techniques. Furthermore, we use factorial hidden Markov models to account for temporal dependencies, e.g. to model the transitions when a perceived audio signal (speech) stems from two persons speaking alternating [1]. While we handle audio-visual data in current studies, the underlying theory and algorithms will be applicable in the sensorimotor context. Research carried out in this subproject is closely related to our work on haptic cognition, which is one of the main focus points of SENSOPAC (WP1, Active Sensing). Please also see our subproject Haptic Data Decoding and Processing. Related Publications
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Subproject overview |