Active learning prioritizes the labeling of the most informative data samples. However, the performance of active learning heuristics depends on both the structure of the underlying model architecture and the data. We propose IALE, an imitation learning scheme that imitates the selection of the best-performing expert heuristic at each stage of the learning cycle in a batch-mode pool-based setting. We use Dagger to train a transferable policy on a dataset and later apply it to different datasets and deep classifier architectures. The policy reflects on the best choices from multiple expert heuristics given the current state of the active learning process, and learns to select samples in a complementary way that unifies the expert strategies. Our experiments on well-known image datasets show that we outperform state of the art imitation learners and heuristics.

This work proposes metric learning for fast similarity-based scene retrieval of unstructured ensembles of trajectory data from large databases. We present a novel representation learning approach using Siamese Metric Learning that approximates a distance preserving low-dimensional representation and that learns to estimate reasonable solutions to the assignment problem. To this end, we employ a Temporal Convolutional Network architecture that we extend with a gating mechanism to enable learning from sparse data, leading to solutions to the assignment problem exhibiting varying degrees of sparsity. Our experimental results on professional soccer tracking data provides insights on learned features and embeddings, as well as on generalization, sensitivity, and network architectural considerations. Our low approximation errors for learned representations and the interactive performance with retrieval times several magnitudes smaller shows that we outperform previous state of the art.

Real-time tracking allows to trace goods and enables the optimization of logistics processes in many application areas. Camera-based inside-out tracking that uses an infrastructure of fixed and known markers is costly as the markers need to be installed and maintained in the environment. Instead, systems that use natural markers suffer from changes in the physical environment. Recently a number of approaches based on machine learning (ML) aim to address such issues. This paper proposes evaluation criteria that consider algorithmic properties of ML-based positioning schemes and introduces a dataset from an indoor warehouse scenario to evaluate for them. Our dataset consists of images labeled with millimeter precise positions that allows for a better development and performance evaluation of learning algorithms. This allows an evaluation of machine learning algorithms for monocular optical positioning in a realistic indoor position application for the first time. We also show the feasibility of ML-based positioning schemes for an industrial deployment.