Igor Gilitschenski
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Igor Gilitschenski has a total of 124 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Roland Siegwart
Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL), ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
17 shared publications - Uwe D. Hanebeck
Intelligent Sensor Actuator-Systems Laboratory, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
14 shared publications - Daniela Rus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12 shared publications - Gerhard Kurz
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
9 shared publications - Sertac Karaman
Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
8 shared publications - Guy Rosman
Toyota Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
6 shared publications
Latest Publications
- Open Access
Track, Inpaint, Resplat: Subject-driven 3D and 4D Generation with Progressive Texture Infilling
Current 3D/4D generation methods are usually optimized for photorealism, efficiency, and aesthetics. However, they often fail to preserve the semantic identity of the subject across different viewpoints. Adapting generation methods with one or few images of a specific subject (also known as Personalization or Subject-driven generation) allows generating visual content that align with the identity of the subject. However, personalized 3D/4D generation is still largely underexplored. In this work, we introduce TIRE (Track, Inpaint, REsplat), a novel method for subject-driven 3D/4D generation. It takes an initial 3D asset produced by an existing 3D generative model as input and uses video tracking to identify the regions that need to be modified. Then, we adopt a subject-driven 2D inpainting model for progressively infilling the identified regions. Finally, we resplat the modified 2D multi-view observations back to 3D while still maintaining consistency. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach significantly improves identity preservation in 3D/4D generation compared to state-of-the-art methods. Our project website is available at https://zsh2000.github.io/track-inpaint-resplat.github.io/.
Open AccessTrack, Inpaint, Resplat: Subject-driven 3D and 4D Generation with Progressive Texture Infilling
Current 3D/4D generation methods are usually optimized for photorealism, efficiency, and aesthetics. However, they often fail to preserve the semantic identity of the subject across different viewpoints. Adapting generation methods with one or few images of a specific subject (also known as Personalization or Subject-driven generation) allows generating visual content that align with the identity of the subject. However, personalized 3D/4D generation is still largely underexplored. In this work, we introduce TIRE (Track, Inpaint, REsplat), a novel method for subject-driven 3D/4D generation. It takes an initial 3D asset produced by an existing 3D generative model as input and uses video tracking to identify the regions that need to be modified. Then, we adopt a subject-driven 2D inpainting model for progressively infilling the identified regions. Finally, we resplat the modified 2D multi-view observations back to 3D while still maintaining consistency. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach significantly improves identity preservation in 3D/4D generation compared to state-of-the-art methods. Our project website is available at https://zsh2000.github.io/track-inpaint-resplat.github.io/.
- Open Access
Box Pose and Shape Estimation and Domain Adaptation for Large-Scale Warehouse Automation
Modern warehouse automation systems rely on fleets of intelligent robots that generate vast amounts of data -- most of which remains unannotated. This paper develops a self-supervised domain adaptation pipeline that leverages real-world, unlabeled data to improve perception models without requiring manual annotations. Our work focuses specifically on estimating the pose and shape of boxes and presents a correct-and-certify pipeline for self-supervised box pose and shape estimation. We extensively evaluate our approach across a range of simulated and real industrial settings, including adaptation to a large-scale real-world dataset of 50,000 images. The self-supervised model significantly outperforms models trained solely in simulation and shows substantial improvements over a zero-shot 3D bounding box estimation baseline.
Open AccessBox Pose and Shape Estimation and Domain Adaptation for Large-Scale Warehouse Automation
Modern warehouse automation systems rely on fleets of intelligent robots that generate vast amounts of data -- most of which remains unannotated. This paper develops a self-supervised domain adaptation pipeline that leverages real-world, unlabeled data to improve perception models without requiring manual annotations. Our work focuses specifically on estimating the pose and shape of boxes and presents a correct-and-certify pipeline for self-supervised box pose and shape estimation. We extensively evaluate our approach across a range of simulated and real industrial settings, including adaptation to a large-scale real-world dataset of 50,000 images. The self-supervised model significantly outperforms models trained solely in simulation and shows substantial improvements over a zero-shot 3D bounding box estimation baseline.
- 1 November 2024
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 412-428
Accelerating Online Mapping and Behavior Prediction via Direct BEV Feature Attention
- 1 November 2024
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 412-428
Accelerating Online Mapping and Behavior Prediction via Direct BEV Feature Attention
- Open Access
Realistic Evaluation of Model Merging for Compositional Generalization
Merging has become a widespread way to cheaply combine individual models into a single model that inherits their capabilities and attains better performance. This popularity has spurred rapid development of many new merging methods, which are typically validated in disparate experimental settings and frequently differ in the assumptions made about model architecture, data availability, and computational budget. In this work, we characterize the relative merits of different merging methods by evaluating them in a shared experimental setting and precisely identifying the practical requirements of each method. Specifically, our setting focuses on using merging for compositional generalization of capabilities in image classification, image generation, and natural language processing. Additionally, we measure the computational costs of different merging methods as well as how they perform when scaling the number of models being merged. Taken together, our results clarify the state of the field of model merging and provide a comprehensive and rigorous experimental setup to test new methods.
Open AccessRealistic Evaluation of Model Merging for Compositional Generalization
Merging has become a widespread way to cheaply combine individual models into a single model that inherits their capabilities and attains better performance. This popularity has spurred rapid development of many new merging methods, which are typically validated in disparate experimental settings and frequently differ in the assumptions made about model architecture, data availability, and computational budget. In this work, we characterize the relative merits of different merging methods by evaluating them in a shared experimental setting and precisely identifying the practical requirements of each method. Specifically, our setting focuses on using merging for compositional generalization of capabilities in image classification, image generation, and natural language processing. Additionally, we measure the computational costs of different merging methods as well as how they perform when scaling the number of models being merged. Taken together, our results clarify the state of the field of model merging and provide a comprehensive and rigorous experimental setup to test new methods.
- Open Access
Accelerating Online Mapping and Behavior Prediction via Direct BEV Feature Attention
Understanding road geometry is a critical component of the autonomous vehicle (AV) stack. While high-definition (HD) maps can readily provide such information, they suffer from high labeling and maintenance costs. Accordingly, many recent works have proposed methods for estimating HD maps online from sensor data. The vast majority of recent approaches encode multi-camera observations into an intermediate representation, e.g., a bird's eye view (BEV) grid, and produce vector map elements via a decoder. While this architecture is performant, it decimates much of the information encoded in the intermediate representation, preventing downstream tasks (e.g., behavior prediction) from leveraging them. In this work, we propose exposing the rich internal features of online map estimation methods and show how they enable more tightly integrating online mapping with trajectory forecasting. In doing so, we find that directly accessing internal BEV features yields up to 73% faster inference speeds and up to 29% more accurate predictions on the real-world nuScenes dataset.
Open AccessAccelerating Online Mapping and Behavior Prediction via Direct BEV Feature Attention
Understanding road geometry is a critical component of the autonomous vehicle (AV) stack. While high-definition (HD) maps can readily provide such information, they suffer from high labeling and maintenance costs. Accordingly, many recent works have proposed methods for estimating HD maps online from sensor data. The vast majority of recent approaches encode multi-camera observations into an intermediate representation, e.g., a bird's eye view (BEV) grid, and produce vector map elements via a decoder. While this architecture is performant, it decimates much of the information encoded in the intermediate representation, preventing downstream tasks (e.g., behavior prediction) from leveraging them. In this work, we propose exposing the rich internal features of online map estimation methods and show how they enable more tightly integrating online mapping with trajectory forecasting. In doing so, we find that directly accessing internal BEV features yields up to 73% faster inference speeds and up to 29% more accurate predictions on the real-world nuScenes dataset.
- Open Access
Producing and Leveraging Online Map Uncertainty in Trajectory Prediction
High-definition (HD) maps have played an integral role in the development of modern autonomous vehicle (AV) stacks, albeit with high associated labeling and maintenance costs. As a result, many recent works have proposed methods for estimating HD maps online from sensor data, enabling AVs to operate outside of previously-mapped regions. However, current online map estimation approaches are developed in isolation of their downstream tasks, complicating their integration in AV stacks. In particular, they do not produce uncertainty or confidence estimates. In this work, we extend multiple state-of-the-art online map estimation methods to additionally estimate uncertainty and show how this enables more tightly integrating online mapping with trajectory forecasting. In doing so, we find that incorporating uncertainty yields up to 50% faster training convergence and up to 15% better prediction performance on the real-world nuScenes driving dataset.
Open AccessProducing and Leveraging Online Map Uncertainty in Trajectory Prediction
High-definition (HD) maps have played an integral role in the development of modern autonomous vehicle (AV) stacks, albeit with high associated labeling and maintenance costs. As a result, many recent works have proposed methods for estimating HD maps online from sensor data, enabling AVs to operate outside of previously-mapped regions. However, current online map estimation approaches are developed in isolation of their downstream tasks, complicating their integration in AV stacks. In particular, they do not produce uncertainty or confidence estimates. In this work, we extend multiple state-of-the-art online map estimation methods to additionally estimate uncertainty and show how this enables more tightly integrating online mapping with trajectory forecasting. In doing so, we find that incorporating uncertainty yields up to 50% faster training convergence and up to 15% better prediction performance on the real-world nuScenes driving dataset.
- Open Access
$λ$-models: Effective Decision-Aware Reinforcement Learning with Latent Models
The idea of decision-aware model learning, that models should be accurate where it matters for decision-making, has gained prominence in model-based reinforcement learning. While promising theoretical results have been established, the empirical performance of algorithms leveraging a decision-aware loss has been lacking, especially in continuous control problems. In this paper, we present a study on the necessary components for decision-aware reinforcement learning models and we showcase design choices that enable well-performing algorithms. To this end, we provide a theoretical and empirical investigation into algorithmic ideas in the field. We highlight that empirical design decisions established in the MuZero line of works, most importantly the use of a latent model, are vital to achieving good performance for related algorithms. Furthermore, we show that the MuZero loss function is biased in stochastic environments and establish that this bias has practical consequences. Building on these findings, we present an overview of which decision-aware loss functions are best used in what empirical scenarios, providing actionable insights to practitioners in the field.
Open Access$λ$-models: Effective Decision-Aware Reinforcement Learning with Latent Models
The idea of decision-aware model learning, that models should be accurate where it matters for decision-making, has gained prominence in model-based reinforcement learning. While promising theoretical results have been established, the empirical performance of algorithms leveraging a decision-aware loss has been lacking, especially in continuous control problems. In this paper, we present a study on the necessary components for decision-aware reinforcement learning models and we showcase design choices that enable well-performing algorithms. To this end, we provide a theoretical and empirical investigation into algorithmic ideas in the field. We highlight that empirical design decisions established in the MuZero line of works, most importantly the use of a latent model, are vital to achieving good performance for related algorithms. Furthermore, we show that the MuZero loss function is biased in stochastic environments and establish that this bias has practical consequences. Building on these findings, we present an overview of which decision-aware loss functions are best used in what empirical scenarios, providing actionable insights to practitioners in the field.
- Open Access
- 10 December 2023
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-12
iNVS: Repurposing Diffusion Inpainters for Novel View Synthesis
In this paper, we present a method for generating consistent novel views from a single source image. Our approach focuses on maximizing the reuse of visible pixels from the source image. To achieve this, we use a monocular depth estimator that transfers visible pixels from the source view to the target view. Starting from a pre-trained 2D inpainting diffusion model, we train our method on the large-scale Objaverse dataset to learn 3D object priors. While training we use a novel masking mechanism based on epipolar lines to further improve the quality of our approach. This allows our framework to perform zero-shot novel view synthesis on a variety of objects. We evaluate the zero-shot abilities of our framework on three challenging datasets: Google Scanned Objects, Ray Traced Multiview, and Common Objects in 3D.
- 10 December 2023
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-12
Open AccessiNVS: Repurposing Diffusion Inpainters for Novel View Synthesis
In this paper, we present a method for generating consistent novel views from a single source image. Our approach focuses on maximizing the reuse of visible pixels from the source image. To achieve this, we use a monocular depth estimator that transfers visible pixels from the source view to the target view. Starting from a pre-trained 2D inpainting diffusion model, we train our method on the large-scale Objaverse dataset to learn 3D object priors. While training we use a novel masking mechanism based on epipolar lines to further improve the quality of our approach. This allows our framework to perform zero-shot novel view synthesis on a variety of objects. We evaluate the zero-shot abilities of our framework on three challenging datasets: Google Scanned Objects, Ray Traced Multiview, and Common Objects in 3D.
- Open Access
EventCLIP: Adapting CLIP for Event-based Object Recognition
Recent advances in zero-shot and few-shot classification heavily rely on the success of pre-trained vision-language models (VLMs) such as CLIP. Due to a shortage of large-scale datasets, training such models for event camera data remains infeasible. Thus, adapting existing VLMs across modalities to event vision is an important research challenge. In this work, we introduce EventCLIP, a novel approach that utilizes CLIP for zero-shot and few-shot event-based object recognition. We first generalize CLIP's image encoder to event data by converting raw events to 2D grid-based representations. To further enhance performance, we propose a feature adapter to aggregate temporal information over event frames and refine text embeddings to better align with the visual inputs. We evaluate EventCLIP on N-Caltech, N-Cars, and N-ImageNet datasets, achieving state-of-the-art few-shot performance. When fine-tuned on the entire dataset, our method outperforms all existing event classifiers. Moreover, we explore practical applications of EventCLIP including robust event classification and label-free event recognition, where our approach surpasses previous baselines designed specifically for these tasks.
Open AccessEventCLIP: Adapting CLIP for Event-based Object Recognition
Recent advances in zero-shot and few-shot classification heavily rely on the success of pre-trained vision-language models (VLMs) such as CLIP. Due to a shortage of large-scale datasets, training such models for event camera data remains infeasible. Thus, adapting existing VLMs across modalities to event vision is an important research challenge. In this work, we introduce EventCLIP, a novel approach that utilizes CLIP for zero-shot and few-shot event-based object recognition. We first generalize CLIP's image encoder to event data by converting raw events to 2D grid-based representations. To further enhance performance, we propose a feature adapter to aggregate temporal information over event frames and refine text embeddings to better align with the visual inputs. We evaluate EventCLIP on N-Caltech, N-Cars, and N-ImageNet datasets, achieving state-of-the-art few-shot performance. When fine-tuned on the entire dataset, our method outperforms all existing event classifiers. Moreover, we explore practical applications of EventCLIP including robust event classification and label-free event recognition, where our approach surpasses previous baselines designed specifically for these tasks.
- 5 May 2023
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
- Vol. 8 (8) , 4737-4744
Multi-Abstractive Neural Controller: An Efficient Hierarchical Control Architecture for Interactive Driving
As learning-based methods make their way from perception systems to planning/control stacks, robot control systems have started to enjoy the benefits that data-driven methods provide. Because control systems directly affect the motion of the robot, data-driven methods, especially black box approaches, need to be used with caution considering aspects such as stability and interpretability. In this letter, we describe a differentiable and hierarchical control architecture. The proposed representation, called multi-abstractive neural controller , uses the input image to control the transitions within a novel discrete behavior planner (referred to as the visual automaton generative network, or vAGN ). The output of a vAGN controls the parameters of a set of dynamic movement primitives which provides the system controls. We train this neural controller with real-world driving data via behavior cloning and show improved explainability, sample efficiency, and similarity to human driving.
- 5 May 2023
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
- Vol. 8 (8) , 4737-4744
Multi-Abstractive Neural Controller: An Efficient Hierarchical Control Architecture for Interactive Driving
As learning-based methods make their way from perception systems to planning/control stacks, robot control systems have started to enjoy the benefits that data-driven methods provide. Because control systems directly affect the motion of the robot, data-driven methods, especially black box approaches, need to be used with caution considering aspects such as stability and interpretability. In this letter, we describe a differentiable and hierarchical control architecture. The proposed representation, called multi-abstractive neural controller , uses the input image to control the transitions within a novel discrete behavior planner (referred to as the visual automaton generative network, or vAGN ). The output of a vAGN controls the parameters of a set of dynamic movement primitives which provides the system controls. We train this neural controller with real-world driving data via behavior cloning and show improved explainability, sample efficiency, and similarity to human driving.