English

End-to-End Pixel-Based Deep Active Inference for Body Perception and Action

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2021-02-08 v3 Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Robotics Neurons and Cognition

Abstract

We present a pixel-based deep active inference algorithm (PixelAI) inspired by human body perception and action. Our algorithm combines the free-energy principle from neuroscience, rooted in variational inference, with deep convolutional decoders to scale the algorithm to directly deal with raw visual input and provide online adaptive inference. Our approach is validated by studying body perception and action in a simulated and a real Nao robot. Results show that our approach allows the robot to perform 1) dynamical body estimation of its arm using only monocular camera images and 2) autonomous reaching to "imagined" arm poses in the visual space. This suggests that robot and human body perception and action can be efficiently solved by viewing both as an active inference problem guided by ongoing sensory input.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2001.05847,
  title  = {End-to-End Pixel-Based Deep Active Inference for Body Perception and Action},
  author = {Cansu Sancaktar and Marcel van Gerven and Pablo Lanillos},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.05847},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T13:13:01.685Z