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Machine Perception
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:42:00
Abstract
Recent developments in neural networks (aka “deep learning”) have drastically advanced the performance of machine perception systems in a variety of areas including computer vision, robotics, and intelligent UIs. This course is a deep dive into deep learning algorithms and architectures with applications to a variety of perceptual tasks.
Objective
Students will learn about fundamental aspects of modern deep learning approaches for perception. Students will learn to implement, train and debug their own neural networks and gain a detailed understanding of cutting-edge research in learning-based computer vision, robotics and HCI. The final project assignment will involve training a complex neural network architecture and applying it on a real-world dataset of human activity. The core competency acquired through this course is a solid foundation in deep-learning algorithms to process and interpret human input into computing systems. In particular, students should be able to develop systems that deal with the problem of recognizing people in images, detecting and describing body parts, inferring their spatial configuration, performing action/gesture recognition from still images or image sequences, also considering multi-modal data, among others.
Content
We will focus on teaching: how to set up the problem of machine perception, the learning algorithms, network architectures and advanced deep learning concepts in particular probabilistic deep learning models The course covers the following main areas: I) Foundations of deep-learning. II) Probabilistic deep-learning for generative modelling of data (latent variable models, generative adversarial networks and auto-regressive models). III) Deep learning in computer vision, human-computer interaction and robotics. Specific topics include: I) Deep learning basics: a) Neural Networks and training (i.e., backpropagation) b) Feedforward Networks c) Timeseries modelling (RNN, GRU, LSTM) d) Convolutional Neural Networks for classification II) Probabilistic Deep Learning: a) Latent variable models (VAEs) b) Generative adversarial networks (GANs) c) Autoregressive models (PixelCNN, PixelRNN, TCNs) III) Deep Learning techniques for machine perception: a) Fully Convolutional architectures for dense per-pixel tasks (i.e., instance segmentation) b) Pose estimation and other tasks involving human activity c) Deep reinforcement learning IV) Case studies from research in computer vision, HCI, robotics and signal processing
Resources
Literature
Deep Learning Book by Ian Goodfellow and Yoshua Bengio
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Information
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC , WBZ
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 120 minutes
- Aids
- limited aids (2 x A4 pages of hand written notes)
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 200
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture | Machine Perception |
|
2 h weekly |
| exercise | Machine Perception |
|
1 h weekly |
| independent project | Machine Perception | No time listed | 1 h weekly |