Publications | Empirical Inference - Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

30 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2013

Studying large-scale brain networks: electrical stimulation and neural-event-triggered fMRI

Logothetis, N., Eschenko, O., Murayama, Y., Augath, M., Steudel, T., Evrard, H., Besserve, M., Oeltermann, A.

Twenty-Second Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2013), July 2013, journal = {BMC Neuroscience}, year = {2013}, month = {7}, volume = {14}, number = {Supplement 1}, pages = {A1}, (talk)

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2013

Logothetis, N., Eschenko, O., Murayama, Y., Augath, M., Steudel, T., Evrard, H., Besserve, M., Oeltermann, A. Studying large-scale brain networks: electrical stimulation and neural-event-triggered fMRI Twenty-Second Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2013), July 2013, journal = {BMC Neuroscience}, year = {2013}, month = {7}, volume = {14}, number = {Supplement 1}, pages = {A1}, (talk)

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MR-Based Attenuation Correction for Combined Brain PET/MR: Robustness of Atlas- and Pattern Recognition Method to Atlas Registration Failures

Mantlik, F., Bezrukov, I., Hofmann, M., Schölkopf, B., Pichler, B.

IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (IEEE MIC), 2013 (talk)

[BibTex]

Mantlik, F., Bezrukov, I., Hofmann, M., Schölkopf, B., Pichler, B. MR-Based Attenuation Correction for Combined Brain PET/MR: Robustness of Atlas- and Pattern Recognition Method to Atlas Registration Failures IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (IEEE MIC), 2013 (talk)

[BibTex]

Domain Generalization via Invariant Feature Representation

Muandet, K.

30th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML2013), 2013 (talk)

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Muandet, K. Domain Generalization via Invariant Feature Representation 30th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML2013), 2013 (talk)

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Random Projections (Computational and Biological Learning Lab, University of Cambridge, 2013)

Lopez-Paz, D., Duvenaud, D.

2013 (talk)

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Lopez-Paz, D., Duvenaud, D. Random Projections (Computational and Biological Learning Lab, University of Cambridge, 2013) 2013 (talk)

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2008

BCPy2000

Hill, N., Schreiner, T., Puzicha, C., Farquhar, J.

Workshop "Machine Learning Open-Source Software" at NIPS, December 2008 (talk)

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2008

Hill, N., Schreiner, T., Puzicha, C., Farquhar, J. BCPy2000 Workshop "Machine Learning Open-Source Software" at NIPS, December 2008 (talk)

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Logistic Regression for Graph Classification

Shervashidze, N., Tsuda, K.

NIPS Workshop on "Structured Input - Structured Output" (NIPS SISO), December 2008 (talk)

Abstract

In this paper we deal with graph classification. We propose a new algorithm for performing sparse logistic regression for graphs, which is comparable in accuracy with other methods of graph classification and produces probabilistic output in addition. Sparsity is required for the reason of interpretability, which is often necessary in domains such as bioinformatics or chemoinformatics.

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Shervashidze, N., Tsuda, K. Logistic Regression for Graph Classification NIPS Workshop on "Structured Input - Structured Output" (NIPS SISO), December 2008 (talk)

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New Projected Quasi-Newton Methods with Applications

Sra, S.

Microsoft Research Tech-talk, December 2008 (talk)

Abstract

Box-constrained convex optimization problems are central to several applications in a variety of fields such as statistics, psychometrics, signal processing, medical imaging, and machine learning. Two fundamental examples are the non-negative least squares (NNLS) problem and the non-negative Kullback-Leibler (NNKL) divergence minimization problem. The non-negativity constraints are usually based on an underlying physical restriction, for e.g., when dealing with applications in astronomy, tomography, statistical estimation, or image restoration, the underlying parameters represent physical quantities such as concentration, weight, intensity, or frequency counts and are therefore only interpretable with non-negative values. Several modern optimization methods can be inefficient for simple problems such as NNLS and NNKL as they are really designed to handle far more general and complex problems. In this work we develop two simple quasi-Newton methods for solving box-constrained (differentiable) convex optimization problems that utilize the well-known BFGS and limited memory BFGS updates. We position our method between projected gradient (Rosen, 1960) and projected Newton (Bertsekas, 1982) methods, and prove its convergence under a simple Armijo step-size rule. We illustrate our method by showing applications to: Image deblurring, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) image reconstruction, and Non-negative Matrix Approximation (NMA). On medium sized data we observe performance competitive to established procedures, while for larger data the results are even better.

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Sra, S. New Projected Quasi-Newton Methods with Applications Microsoft Research Tech-talk, December 2008 (talk)

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MR-Based PET Attenuation Correction: Initial Results for Whole Body

Hofmann, M., Steinke, F., Aschoff, P., Lichy, M., Brady, M., Schölkopf, B., Pichler, B.

Medical Imaging Conference, October 2008 (talk)

[BibTex]

Hofmann, M., Steinke, F., Aschoff, P., Lichy, M., Brady, M., Schölkopf, B., Pichler, B. MR-Based PET Attenuation Correction: Initial Results for Whole Body Medical Imaging Conference, October 2008 (talk)

[BibTex]

Nonparametric Indepedence Tests: Space Partitioning and Kernel Approaches

Gretton, A., Györfi, L.

19th International Conference on Algorithmic Learning Theory (ALT08), October 2008 (talk)

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Gretton, A., Györfi, L. Nonparametric Indepedence Tests: Space Partitioning and Kernel Approaches 19th International Conference on Algorithmic Learning Theory (ALT08), October 2008 (talk)

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Data-driven goodness-of-fit tests

Langovoy, M.

2008 Barcelona Conference on Asymptotic Statistics (BAS), September 2008 (talk)

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Langovoy, M. Data-driven goodness-of-fit tests 2008 Barcelona Conference on Asymptotic Statistics (BAS), September 2008 (talk)

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mGene: A Novel Discriminative Gene Finder

Schweikert, G., Zeller, G., Zien, A., Behr, J., Sonnenburg, S., Philips, P., Ong, C., Rätsch, G.

Worm Genomics and Systems Biology meeting, July 2008 (talk)

[BibTex]

Schweikert, G., Zeller, G., Zien, A., Behr, J., Sonnenburg, S., Philips, P., Ong, C., Rätsch, G. mGene: A Novel Discriminative Gene Finder Worm Genomics and Systems Biology meeting, July 2008 (talk)

[BibTex]

Discovering Common Sequence Variation in Arabidopsis thaliana

16th Annual International Conference Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), July 2008 (talk)

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Rätsch, G., Clark, R., Schweikert, G., Toomajian, C., Ossowski, S., Zeller, G., Shinn, P., Warthman, N., Hu, T., Fu, G., Hinds, D., Cheng, H., Frazer, K., Huson, D., Schölkopf, B., Nordborg, M., Ecker, J., Weigel, D., Schneeberger, K., Bohlen, A. Discovering Common Sequence Variation in Arabidopsis thaliana 16th Annual International Conference Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), July 2008 (talk)

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Coding Theory in Brain-Computer Interfaces

Martens, SMM.

Soria Summerschool on Computational Mathematics "Algebraic Coding Theory" (S3CM), July 2008 (talk)

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Martens, SMM. Coding Theory in Brain-Computer Interfaces Soria Summerschool on Computational Mathematics "Algebraic Coding Theory" (S3CM), July 2008 (talk)

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Motor Skill Learning for Cognitive Robotics

Peters, J.

6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob), July 2008 (talk)

Abstract

Autonomous robots that can assist humans in situations of daily life have been a long standing vision of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive sciences. A first step towards this goal is to create robots that can learn tasks triggered by environmental context or higher level instruction. However, learning techniques have yet to live up to this promise as only few methods manage to scale to high-dimensional manipulator or humanoid robots. In this tutorial, we give a general overview on motor skill learning for cognitive robotics using research at ATR, USC, CMU and Max-Planck in order to illustrate the problems in motor skill learning. For doing so, we discuss task-appropriate representations and algorithms for learning robot motor skills. Among the topics are the learning basic movements or motor primitives by imitation and reinforcement learning, learning rhytmic and discrete movements, fast regression methods for learning inverse dynamics and setups for learning task-space policies. Examples on various robots, e.g., SARCOS DB, the SARCOS Master Arm, BDI Little Dog and a Barrett WAM, are shown and include Ball-in-a-Cup, T-Ball, Juggling, Devil-Sticking, Operational Space Control and many others.

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Peters, J. Motor Skill Learning for Cognitive Robotics 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob), July 2008 (talk)

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Painless Embeddings of Distributions: the Function Space View (Part 1)

Fukumizu, K., Gretton, A., Smola, A.

25th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), July 2008 (talk)

Abstract

This tutorial will give an introduction to the recent understanding and methodology of the kernel method: dealing with higher order statistics by embedding painlessly random variables/probability distributions. In the early days of kernel machines research, the "kernel trick" was considered a useful way of constructing nonlinear algorithms from linear ones. More recently, however, it has become clear that a potentially more far reaching use of kernels is as a linear way of dealing with higher order statistics by embedding distributions in a suitable reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). Notably, unlike the straightforward expansion of higher order moments or conventional characteristic function approach, the use of kernels or RKHS provides a painless, tractable way of embedding distributions. This line of reasoning leads naturally to the questions: what does it mean to embed a distribution in an RKHS? when is this embedding injective (and thus, when do different distributions have unique mappings)? what implications are there for learning algorithms that make use of these embeddings? This tutorial aims at answering these questions. There are a great variety of applications in machine learning and computer science, which require distribution estimation and/or comparison.

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Fukumizu, K., Gretton, A., Smola, A. Painless Embeddings of Distributions: the Function Space View (Part 1) 25th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), July 2008 (talk)

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Reinforcement Learning for Robotics

Peters, J.

8th European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning for Robotics (EWRL), July 2008 (talk)

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Peters, J. Reinforcement Learning for Robotics 8th European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning for Robotics (EWRL), July 2008 (talk)

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Multi-Classification by Categorical Features via Clustering

Seldin, Y.

25th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), June 2008 (talk)

Abstract

We derive a generalization bound for multi-classification schemes based on grid clustering in categorical parameter product spaces. Grid clustering partitions the parameter space in the form of a Cartesian product of partitions for each of the parameters. The derived bound provides a means to evaluate clustering solutions in terms of the generalization power of a built-on classifier. For classification based on a single feature the bound serves to find a globally optimal classification rule. Comparison of the generalization power of individual features can then be used for feature ranking. Our experiments show that in this role the bound is much more precise than mutual information or normalized correlation indices.

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Seldin, Y. Multi-Classification by Categorical Features via Clustering 25th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), June 2008 (talk)

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Thin-Plate Splines Between Riemannian Manifolds

Steinke, F., Hein, M., Schölkopf, B.

Workshop on Geometry and Statistics of Shapes, June 2008 (talk)

Abstract

With the help of differential geometry we describe a framework to define a thin-plate spline like energy for maps between arbitrary Riemannian manifolds. The so-called Eells energy only depends on the intrinsic geometry of the input and output manifold, but not on their respective representation. The energy can then be used for regression between manifolds, we present results for cases where the outputs are rotations, sets of angles, or points on 3D surfaces. In the future we plan to also target regression where the output is an element of "shape space", understood as a Riemannian manifold. One could also further explore the meaning of the Eells energy when applied to diffeomorphisms between shapes, especially with regard to its potential use as a distance measure between shapes that does not depend on the embedding or the parametrisation of the shapes.

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Steinke, F., Hein, M., Schölkopf, B. Thin-Plate Splines Between Riemannian Manifolds Workshop on Geometry and Statistics of Shapes, June 2008 (talk)

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Learning resolved velocity control

Peters, J.

2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2008 (talk)

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Peters, J. Learning resolved velocity control 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2008 (talk)

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Bayesian methods for protein structure determination

Habeck, M.

Machine Learning in Structural Bioinformatics, April 2008 (talk)

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Habeck, M. Bayesian methods for protein structure determination Machine Learning in Structural Bioinformatics, April 2008 (talk)

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2003

Learning Control and Planning from the View of Control Theory and Imitation

Peters, J., Schaal, S.

NIPS Workshop "Planning for the Real World: The promises and challenges of dealing with uncertainty", December 2003 (talk)

Abstract

Learning control and planning in high dimensional continuous state-action systems, e.g., as needed in a humanoid robot, has so far been a domain beyond the applicability of generic planning techniques like reinforcement learning and dynamic programming. This talk describes an approach we have taken in order to enable complex robotics systems to learn to accomplish control tasks. Adaptive learning controllers equipped with statistical learning techniques can be used to learn tracking controllers -- missing state information and uncertainty in the state estimates are usually addressed by observers or direct adaptive control methods. Imitation learning is used as an ingredient to seed initial control policies whose output is a desired trajectory suitable to accomplish the task at hand. Reinforcement learning with stochastic policy gradients using a natural gradient forms the third component that allows refining the initial control policy until the task is accomplished. In comparison to general learning control, this approach is highly prestructured and thus more domain specific. However, it seems to be a theoretically clean and feasible strategy for control systems of the complexity that we need to address.

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2003

Peters, J., Schaal, S. Learning Control and Planning from the View of Control Theory and Imitation NIPS Workshop "Planning for the Real World: The promises and challenges of dealing with uncertainty", December 2003 (talk)

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Recurrent neural networks from learning attractor dynamics

Schaal, S., Peters, J.

NIPS Workshop on RNNaissance: Recurrent Neural Networks, December 2003 (talk)

Abstract

Many forms of recurrent neural networks can be understood in terms of dynamic systems theory of difference equations or differential equations. Learning in such systems corresponds to adjusting some internal parameters to obtain a desired time evolution of the network, which can usually be characterized in term of point attractor dynamics, limit cycle dynamics, or, in some more rare cases, as strange attractor or chaotic dynamics. Finding a stable learning process to adjust the open parameters of the network towards shaping the desired attractor type and basin of attraction has remain a complex task, as the parameter trajectories during learning can lead the system through a variety of undesirable unstable behaviors, such that learning may never succeed. In this presentation, we review a recently developed learning framework for a class of recurrent neural networks that employs a more structured network approach. We assume that the canonical system behavior is known a priori, e.g., it is a point attractor or a limit cycle. With either supervised learning or reinforcement learning, it is possible to acquire the transformation from a simple representative of this canonical behavior (e.g., a 2nd order linear point attractor, or a simple limit cycle oscillator) to the desired highly complex attractor form. For supervised learning, one shot learning based on locally weighted regression techniques is possible. For reinforcement learning, stochastic policy gradient techniques can be employed. In any case, the recurrent network learned by these methods inherits the stability properties of the simple dynamic system that underlies the nonlinear transformation, such that stability of the learning approach is not a problem. We demonstrate the success of this approach for learning various skills on a humanoid robot, including tasks that require to incorporate additional sensory signals as coupling terms to modify the recurrent network evolution on-line.

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Schaal, S., Peters, J. Recurrent neural networks from learning attractor dynamics NIPS Workshop on RNNaissance: Recurrent Neural Networks, December 2003 (talk)

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Statistical Learning Theory

Bousquet, O.

Machine Learning Summer School, August 2003 (talk)

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Bousquet, O. Statistical Learning Theory Machine Learning Summer School, August 2003 (talk)

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Remarks on Statistical Learning Theory

Bousquet, O.

Machine Learning Summer School, August 2003 (talk)

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Bousquet, O. Remarks on Statistical Learning Theory Machine Learning Summer School, August 2003 (talk)

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Rademacher and Gaussian averages in Learning Theory

Bousquet, O.

Universite de Marne-la-Vallee, March 2003 (talk)

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Bousquet, O. Rademacher and Gaussian averages in Learning Theory Universite de Marne-la-Vallee, March 2003 (talk)

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Statistical Learning Theory

Bousquet, O., Schölkopf, B.

March 2003 (talk)

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Bousquet, O., Schölkopf, B. Statistical Learning Theory March 2003 (talk)

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Concentration Inequalities and Data-Dependent Error Bounds

Bousquet, O.

Uni. Jena, February 2003 (talk)

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Bousquet, O. Concentration Inequalities and Data-Dependent Error Bounds Uni. Jena, February 2003 (talk)

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Introduction: Robots with Cognition?

Franz, MO.

6, pages: 38, (Editors: H.H. Bülthoff, K.R. Gegenfurtner, H.A. Mallot, R. Ulrich, F.A. Wichmann), 6. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK), February 2003 (talk)

Abstract

Using robots as models of cognitive behaviour has a long tradition in robotics. Parallel to the historical development in cognitive science, one observes two major, subsequent waves in cognitive robotics. The first is based on ideas of classical, cognitivist Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the AI view of cognition as rule-based symbol manipulation, these robots typically try to extract symbolic descriptions of the environment from their sensors that are used to update a common, global world representation from which, in turn, the next action of the robot is derived. The AI approach has been successful in strongly restricted and controlled environments requiring well-defined tasks, e.g. in industrial assembly lines. AI-based robots mostly failed, however, in the unpredictable and unstructured environments that have to be faced by mobile robots. This has provoked the second wave in cognitive robotics which tries to achieve cognitive behaviour as an emergent property from the interaction of simple, low-level modules. Robots of the second wave are called animats as their architecture is designed to closely model aspects of real animals. Using only simple reactive mechanisms and Hebbian-type or evolutionary learning, the resulting animats often outperformed the highly complex AI-based robots in tasks such as obstacle avoidance, corridor following etc. While successful in generating robust, insect-like behaviour, typical animats are limited to stereotyped, fixed stimulus-response associations. If one adopts the view that cognition requires a flexible, goal-dependent choice of behaviours and planning capabilities (H.A. Mallot, Kognitionswissenschaft, 1999, 40-48) then it appears that cognitive behaviour cannot emerge from a collection of purely reactive modules. It rather requires environmentally decoupled structures that work without directly engaging the actions that it is concerned with. This poses the current challenge to cognitive robotics: How can we build cognitive robots that show the robustness and the learning capabilities of animats without falling back into the representational paradigm of AI? The speakers of the symposium present their approaches to this question in the context of robot navigation and sensorimotor learning. In the first talk, Prof. Helge Ritter introduces a robot system for imitation learning capable of exploring various alternatives in simulation before actually performing a task. The second speaker, Angelo Arleo, develops a model of spatial memory in rat navigation based on his electrophysiological experiments. He validates the model on a mobile robot which, in some navigation tasks, shows a performance comparable to that of the real rat. A similar model of spatial memory is used to investigate the mechanisms of territory formation in a series of robot experiments presented by Prof. Hanspeter Mallot. In the last talk, we return to the domain of sensorimotor learning where Ralf M{\"o}ller introduces his approach to generate anticipatory behaviour by learning forward models of sensorimotor relationships.

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Franz, MO. Introduction: Robots with Cognition? 6, pages: 38, (Editors: H.H. Bülthoff, K.R. Gegenfurtner, H.A. Mallot, R. Ulrich, F.A. Wichmann), 6. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK), February 2003 (talk)

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