Empirical Inference


2023


Synchronizing Machine Learning Algorithms, Realtime Robotic Control and Simulated Environment with o80
Synchronizing Machine Learning Algorithms, Realtime Robotic Control and Simulated Environment with o80

Berenz, V., Widmaier, F., Guist, S., Schölkopf, B., Büchler, D.

Robot Software Architectures Workshop (RSA) 2023, ICRA, 2023 (techreport)

Abstract
Robotic applications require the integration of various modalities, encompassing perception, control of real robots and possibly the control of simulated environments. While the state-of-the-art robotic software solutions such as ROS 2 provide most of the required features, flexible synchronization between algorithms, data streams and control loops can be tedious. o80 is a versatile C++ framework for robotics which provides a shared memory model and a command framework for real-time critical systems. It enables expert users to set up complex robotic systems and generate Python bindings for scientists. o80's unique feature is its flexible synchronization between processes, including the traditional blocking commands and the novel ``bursting mode'', which allows user code to control the execution of the lower process control loop. This makes it particularly useful for setups that mix real and simulated environments.

arxiv poster link (url) [BibTex]


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Pulling back information geometry

Arvanitidis, G., González Duque, M., Pouplin, A., Kalatzis, D., Hauberg, S.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


A Robot Cluster for Reproducible Research in Dexterous Manipulation
A Robot Cluster for Reproducible Research in Dexterous Manipulation

Wüthrich*, M., Widmaier*, F., Bauer*, S., Funk, N., Urain, J., Peters, J., Watson, J., Chen, C., Srinivasan, K., Zhang, J., Zhang, J., Walter, M. R., Madan, R., Schaff, C., Maeda, T., Yoneda, T., Yarats, D., Allshire, A., Gordon, E. K., Bhattacharjee, T., Srinivasa, S. S., Garg, A., Buchholz, A., Stark, S., Steinbrenner, T., Akpo, J., Joshi, S., Agrawal, V., Schölkopf, B.

2021, *equal contribution (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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Nonpar MANOVA via Independence Testing

Panda, S., Shen, C., Perry, R., Zorn, J., Lutz, A., Priebe, C. E., Vogelstein, J. T.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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On the Impact of Stable Ranks in Deep Nets

Georgiev, B., Franken, L., Mukherjee, M., Arvanitidis, G.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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Manifold forests: closing the gap on neural networks

Perry, R., Tomita, T. M., Mehta, R., Arroyo, J., Patsolic, J., Falk, B., Vogelstein, J. T.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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Random Forests for Adaptive Nearest Neighbor Estimation of Information-Theoretic Quantities

Perry, R., Mehta, R., Guo, R., Yezerets, E., Arroyo, J., Powell, M., Helm, H., Shen, C., Vogelstein, J. T.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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Transferring Dexterous Manipulation from GPU Simulation to a Remote Real-World TriFinger

Allshire, A., Mittal, M., Lodaya, V., Makoviychuk, V., Makoviichuk, D., Widmaier, F., Wüthrich, M., Bauer, S., Handa, A., Garg, A.

2021 (misc)

arXiv [BibTex]

arXiv [BibTex]


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Learning Neural Causal Models from Unknown Interventions

Ke, R., Bilaniuk, O., Goyal, A., Bauer, S., Larochelle, H., Schölkopf, B., Mozer, M. C., Pal, C., Bengio, Y.

2020 (misc)

arXiv Project Page [BibTex]

arXiv Project Page [BibTex]

2018


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Die kybernetische Revolution

Schölkopf, B.

S{\"u}ddeutsche Zeitung, 2018, (15-Mar-2018) (misc)

link (url) [BibTex]

2018

link (url) [BibTex]


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Large sample analysis of the median heuristic

Garreau, D., Jitkrittum, W., Kanagawa, M.

2018 (misc) In preparation

arXiv [BibTex]

2016


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Empirical Inference (2010-2015)
Scientific Advisory Board Report, 2016 (misc)

pdf [BibTex]

2016

pdf [BibTex]


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Unsupervised Domain Adaptation in the Wild : Dealing with Asymmetric Label Set

Mittal, A., Raj, A., Namboodiri, V. P., Tuytelaars, T.

2016 (misc)

Arxiv [BibTex]

2015


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Cosmology from Cosmic Shear with DES Science Verification Data

Abbott, T., Abdalla, F. B., Allam, S., Amara, A., Annis, J., Armstrong, R., Bacon, D., Banerji, M., Bauer, A. H., Baxter, E., others,

arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.05552, 2015 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

2015

link (url) [BibTex]


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The DES Science Verification Weak Lensing Shear Catalogs

Jarvis, M., Sheldon, E., Zuntz, J., Kacprzak, T., Bridle, S. L., Amara, A., Armstrong, R., Becker, M. R., Bernstein, G. M., Bonnett, C., others,

arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.05603, 2015 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]

2014


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Development of advanced methods for improving astronomical images

Schmeißer, N.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2014 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

2014

[BibTex]

2013


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Camera-specific Image Denoising

Schober, M.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, October 2013 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

2013

PDF [BibTex]


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Animating Samples from Gaussian Distributions

Hennig, P.

(8), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2013 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Detailed models of the focal plane in the two-wheel era

Hogg, D. W., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Lang, D., Montet, B. T., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0653, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]


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Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Searching the habitable zones of the brightest stars

Montet, B. T., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Hogg, D. W., Lang, D., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0654, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

link (url) [BibTex]

2012


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High Gamma-Power Predicts Performance in Brain-Computer Interfacing

Grosse-Wentrup, M., Schölkopf, B.

(3), Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Tübingen, February 2012 (techreport)

Abstract
Subjects operating a brain-computer interface (BCI) based on sensorimotor rhythms exhibit large variations in performance over the course of an experimental session. Here, we show that high-frequency gamma-oscillations, originating in fronto-parietal networks, predict such variations on a trial-to-trial basis. We interpret this nding as empirical support for an in uence of attentional networks on BCI-performance via modulation of the sensorimotor rhythm.

PDF [BibTex]

2012

PDF [BibTex]

2011


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PAC-Bayesian Analysis of Martingales and Multiarmed Bandits

Seldin, Y., Laviolette, F., Shawe-Taylor, J., Peters, J., Auer, P.

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, May 2011 (techreport)

Abstract
We present two alternative ways to apply PAC-Bayesian analysis to sequences of dependent random variables. The first is based on a new lemma that enables to bound expectations of convex functions of certain dependent random variables by expectations of the same functions of independent Bernoulli random variables. This lemma provides an alternative tool to Hoeffding-Azuma inequality to bound concentration of martingale values. Our second approach is based on integration of Hoeffding-Azuma inequality with PAC-Bayesian analysis. We also introduce a way to apply PAC-Bayesian analysis in situation of limited feedback. We combine the new tools to derive PAC-Bayesian generalization and regret bounds for the multiarmed bandit problem. Although our regret bound is not yet as tight as state-of-the-art regret bounds based on other well-established techniques, our results significantly expand the range of potential applications of PAC-Bayesian analysis and introduce a new analysis tool to reinforcement learning and many other fields, where martingales and limited feedback are encountered.

PDF Web [BibTex]

2011

PDF Web [BibTex]


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Non-stationary Correction of Optical Aberrations

Schuler, C., Hirsch, M., Harmeling, S., Schölkopf, B.

(1), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, May 2011 (techreport)

Abstract
Taking a sharp photo at several megapixel resolution traditionally relies on high grade lenses. In this paper, we present an approach to alleviate image degradations caused by imperfect optics. We rely on a calibration step to encode the optical aberrations in a space-variant point spread function and obtain a corrected image by non-stationary deconvolution. By including the Bayer array in our image formation model, we can perform demosaicing as part of the deconvolution.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Multiple Kernel Learning: A Unifying Probabilistic Viewpoint

Nickisch, H., Seeger, M.

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, March 2011 (techreport)

Abstract
We present a probabilistic viewpoint to multiple kernel learning unifying well-known regularised risk approaches and recent advances in approximate Bayesian inference relaxations. The framework proposes a general objective function suitable for regression, robust regression and classification that is lower bound of the marginal likelihood and contains many regularised risk approaches as special cases. Furthermore, we derive an efficient and provably convergent optimisation algorithm.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Multiple testing, uncertainty and realistic pictures

Langovoy, M., Wittich, O.

(2011-004), EURANDOM, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, January 2011 (techreport)

Abstract
We study statistical detection of grayscale objects in noisy images. The object of interest is of unknown shape and has an unknown intensity, that can be varying over the object and can be negative. No boundary shape constraints are imposed on the object, only a weak bulk condition for the object's interior is required. We propose an algorithm that can be used to detect grayscale objects of unknown shapes in the presence of nonparametric noise of unknown level. Our algorithm is based on a nonparametric multiple testing procedure. We establish the limit of applicability of our method via an explicit, closed-form, non-asymptotic and nonparametric consistency bound. This bound is valid for a wide class of nonparametric noise distributions. We achieve this by proving an uncertainty principle for percolation on nite lattices.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Nonconvex proximal splitting: batch and incremental algorithms

Sra, S.

(2), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2011 (techreport)

Abstract
Within the unmanageably large class of nonconvex optimization, we consider the rich subclass of nonsmooth problems having composite objectives (this includes the extensively studied convex, composite objective problems as a special case). For this subclass, we introduce a powerful, new framework that permits asymptotically non-vanishing perturbations. In particular, we develop perturbation-based batch and incremental (online like) nonconvex proximal splitting algorithms. To our knowledge, this is the rst time that such perturbation-based nonconvex splitting algorithms are being proposed and analyzed. While the main contribution of the paper is the theoretical framework, we complement our results by presenting some empirical results on matrix factorization.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]

2010


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Computationally efficient algorithms for statistical image processing: Implementation in R

Langovoy, M., Wittich, O.

(2010-053), EURANDOM, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, December 2010 (techreport)

Abstract
In the series of our earlier papers on the subject, we proposed a novel statistical hy- pothesis testing method for detection of objects in noisy images. The method uses results from percolation theory and random graph theory. We developed algorithms that allowed to detect objects of unknown shapes in the presence of nonparametric noise of unknown level and of un- known distribution. No boundary shape constraints were imposed on the objects, only a weak bulk condition for the object's interior was required. Our algorithms have linear complexity and exponential accuracy. In the present paper, we describe an implementation of our nonparametric hypothesis testing method. We provide a program that can be used for statistical experiments in image processing. This program is written in the statistical programming language R.

PDF [BibTex]

2010

PDF [BibTex]


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Fast Convergent Algorithms for Expectation Propagation Approximate Bayesian Inference

Seeger, M., Nickisch, H.

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, December 2010 (techreport)

Abstract
We propose a novel algorithm to solve the expectation propagation relaxation of Bayesian inference for continuous-variable graphical models. In contrast to most previous algorithms, our method is provably convergent. By marrying convergent EP ideas from (Opper&Winther 05) with covariance decoupling techniques (Wipf&Nagarajan 08, Nickisch&Seeger 09), it runs at least an order of magnitude faster than the most commonly used EP solver.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]