Active classifier selection for RGB-D object categorization using a Markov random field ensemble method

In this work, a new ensemble method for the task of category recognition in different environments is presented. The focus is on service robotic perception in an open environment, where the robot’s task is to recognize previously unseen objects of predefined categories, based on training on a public dataset. We propose an ensemble learning approach to be able to flexibly combine complementary sources of information (different state-of-the-art descriptors computed on color and depth images), based on a Markov Random Field (MRF). By exploiting its specific characteristics, the MRF ensemble method can also be executed as a Dynamic Classifier Selection (DCS) system. In the experiments, the committee- and topology-dependent performance boost of our ensemble is shown. Despite reduced computational costs and using less information, our strategy performs on the same level as common ensemble approaches. Finally, the impact of large differences between datasets is analyzed.