Computer program is able to match rough sketches to real objects

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if (mobile) { var mob_link = "<img src='https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/cellphone.png'/><a id='article_mobile_link' class='small' href='https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://m.gizmag.com/article/24147'>View on mobile site</a>"; $jqr('.sd_top').append(mob_link); } // ]]></script> <a class="vsmall" href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/scienceandeducation/" style="float: left; ">SCIENCE AND EDUCATION</a> </div> <h1 id="ar_title">Computer program is able to match rough sketches to real objects</h1> <div class="summary_details_left"> <p>By <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/author/ben-coxworth/" rel="author">Ben Coxworth</a></p> <p><em>September 14, 2012</em></p> </div> <div class="summary_details_right"> <div class="has_comments"><a href="sketch-identifying-program#comments">1 Comment</a></div> <div class="has_pictures"><a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/pictures">3 Pictures</a></div> </div> </div> <div id="article_share_rail"> <div class="as_button"><div class="fb-like" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/" data-send="false" data-layout="box_count" data-show-faces="false"></div><script type="text/javascript">_ga.trackFacebook();</script></div> <div class="as_button"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-via="gizmag">Tweet</a></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="g-plusone" data-size="tall" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/"></div></div> <div class="as_button"><iframe style="overflow: hidden; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958if_/http://badge.stumbleupon.com/badge/embed/5/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gizmag.com%2Fsketch-identifying-program%2F24147%2F" width="50" height="60" id="iframe-stmblpn-widget-1"></iframe></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="pin-it-button" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958oe_/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/" data-image="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/sketches.jpg" data-description="A new computer program is able to guess what people are drawing, based on very rough sketches. "></div></div> <div class="as_button"><script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div> <div class="as_button" id="reddit_button_rail"><script type="text/javascript">reddit_newwindow='1'</script></div> </div> <div id="hero_box" style="width: 530px;"> <a id="hero_link" href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/pictures"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/hero/sketches.jpg" title="The sketch-identifying program at work" width="530" height="296" alt="The sketch-identifying program at work"/></a> <div class="pic_caption"> <p>The sketch-identifying program at work</p> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/pictures" id="gallery_link">Image Gallery</a> (3 images) </div> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div class="article_body"> <div id="top_unit"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> <p>Currently, using Google’s “Search by Image” function, it’s possible to search the internet for information on something <em>if</em> you already have an image of that thing. Also, researchers at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/carnegie-mellon-computer-image-matching/20757/" target="_blank">Carnegie Mellon University</a> are developing a system that allows computers to match up users’ drawings of objects with photographs of those same items – the drawings have to be reasonably good, though. Now, however, a team from Rhode Island’s Brown University and the Technical University of Berlin have created software that analyzes users’ crude, cartoony sketches, and figures out what it is that they’re trying to draw.</p> <p>To develop the system, the researchers started with a database made up of 250 categories of annotated photographs. Then, using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowd-sourcing service, they hired people to make rough sketches of objects from each of those categories. The resulting 20,000 sketches were then subjected to recognition and machine learning algorithms, in order to teach the system what general sort of sketches could be attributed to which categories. After seeing numerous examples of how various people drew a rabbit, for instance, it would learn that combinations of specific shapes usually meant “rabbit.”</p> <div style="width: 510px; height: 383px; margin-bottom: 1px;" class="article_img"><a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/pictures#2" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/inline/sketches-1.jpg" width="510" alt="Various participants' attempts at drawing a rabbit"/></a></div><div class="inline_caption" style="width: 510px; padding: 0;"><p>Various participants' attempts at drawing a rabbit</p></div><div class="clear_both"></div> <p>Finally, an interface was designed, in which users draw images using a stylus, and the system attempts to guess what they’re drawing <em>as</em> they’re drawing it – not unlike playing Pictionary. So far, as long as the object belongs to one of the 250 categories, the system is able to correctly identify it about 56 percent of the time. When humans were asked to identify the items being sketched, they had a success rate of about 73 percent. Certainly better, but not wildly so.</p> <p>In the future, it is hoped that the technology might be used for applications like sketch-based internet searches. If you remembered some mysterious object that you saw while on vacation, for instance, you could draw a picture of it to find out what it was ... even if you weren’t a very good artist. You could also perform searches that weren’t constrained by language barriers, unlike text-based searches.</p> <p>Before that can happen, however, the system needs to expand far beyond its current 250 categories. One possible way of doing that, the researchers suggest, is through an online game. That game could involve one player being challenged to draw a certain item, which other players have to correctly identify. Along the way, a plethora of sketches of all sorts of objects would be accumulated, and used to build the system’s library.</p> <p>The system can be seen in use in the video below.</p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2012/09/sketches" target="_blank">Brown University</a></p>  <div class="article_video"><iframe src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958if_/http://player.vimeo.com/video/49311857" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </div>  <div id="bottom_unit"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </div> </div>   <span class="title share_bar">Share</span> <div id="article_share_bar" class="dotsontop share_bar"> <div class="as_button fb_as_button"><div class="fb-like" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/" data-send="false" data-layout="box_count" data-show-faces="false"></div><script type="text/javascript">_ga.trackFacebook();</script></div> <div class="as_button"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-via="gizmag">Tweet</a></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="g-plusone" data-size="tall" data-href="http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/"></div></div> <div class="as_button"><iframe style="overflow: hidden; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958if_/http://badge.stumbleupon.com/badge/embed/5/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gizmag.com%2Fsketch-identifying-program%2F24147%2F" width="50" height="60" id="iframe-stmblpn-widget-2"></iframe></div> <div class="as_button"><div class="pin-it-button" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958oe_/http://www.gizmag.com/sketch-identifying-program/24147/" data-image="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/sketches.jpg" data-description="A new computer program is able to guess what people are drawing, based on very rough sketches. "></div></div> <div class="as_button"><script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div> <div class="as_button" id="reddit_button_bar"><script type="text/javascript">reddit_newwindow='1'</script></div> </div>  <span class="title clear_left">About the Author</span> <div class="dotsontop" id="authorcontainer">  <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/author/ben-coxworth/"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/author_profiles/127.jpg" alt="Ben Coxworth" id="bio_pic"/> </a>   An experienced freelance writer, videographer and television producer, Ben's interest in all forms of innovation is particularly fanatical when it comes to human-powered transportation, film-making gear, environmentally-friendly technologies and anything that's designed to go underwater. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where he spends a lot of time going over the handlebars of his mountain bike, hanging out in off-leash parks, and wishing the Pacific Ocean wasn't so far away.   <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/author/ben-coxworth/">All articles by Ben Coxworth</a> <br class="clear_both"> </div>  <div id="tags"> <span class="title">Tags</span> <div class="dotsontop"> <ul> <li>» <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/art/" rel="tag">Art</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/brown-university/" rel="tag">Brown University</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/learning/" rel="tag">Learning</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/object-recognition/" rel="tag">Object Recognition</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/technische-universität-berlin/" rel="tag">Technische Universität Berlin</a></li> </ul> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> </div> <div id="bing_unit"></div>  <span class="title" id="comments">1 Comment</span> <div class="dotsontop"> <div id="comment-161557" class="a_comment"> <p>Similar technology has been around for a while now with sites like <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://www.clipardo.com/">http://www.clipardo.com</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958/http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/#sketchName=2012-09-17-09-24-12-155873.5">http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/#sketchName=2012-09-17-09-24-12-155873.5</a> </p> <span class="name">foobar4</span><br> <span class="date"> 17th September, 2012 @ 12:34 am PDT</span> </div> </div> <span class="title">Post a Comment</span> <div class="dotsontop" id="comment_form_div"> <div id="comment_form" data-article="24147"> <div id="comments_login"> <form action="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/index.php" name="login_form" id="login_form" onsubmit="return false;"> <p class="bold">Login with your gizmag account:</p> <p id="login_status"></p> <label for="email">Email</label><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value=""/> <label for="password">Password</label><input type="password" name="password" id="password" value=""/> <input type="submit" value="Log In" class="med"/> <div id="options"> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/register/">Register here</a><br> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/new_password/">Forgotten your password?</a> </div> <input type="hidden" id="expired_comment" value=""/> </form> </div> <div id="facebook_login"> <p>Or <span class="bold">Login with Facebook:</span></p><br/> <div class="fb-login-button" data-scope="email" data-max-rows="1" data-onlogin="loginFUser(24147);" data-autologoutlink="true"></div> </div> </div> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div>  <span class="title">Related Articles</span> <div id="related_articles" class="dotsontop"> <ul> <li> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/carnegie-mellon-computer-image-matching/20757/" title="A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computer image sortin..."> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/related/cmu_image_matching-6.jpg" alt="A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computer image sortin..."/> </a> <a class="rel_title" href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/carnegie-mellon-computer-image-matching/20757/">CMU algorithm matches sketches, paintings to photographs</a> <p class="rel_date">7th December, 2011</p> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/software-developed-to-match-police-sketches-to-mug-shots/18060/" title="Software created at Michigan State University is capable of matching faces in police sketc..."> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/related/mugshots.jpg" alt="Software created at Michigan State University is capable of matching faces in police sketc..."/> </a> <a class="rel_title" href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/software-developed-to-match-police-sketches-to-mug-shots/18060/">Software developed to match police sketches to mug shots </a> <p class="rel_date">4th March, 2011</p> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/scribble-pad-animates-your-drawings/15167/" title="The Scribble is an electronic doodle pad that animates your drawings"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121018023958im_/http://images.gizmag.com/related/scribble.jpg" alt="The Scribble is an electronic doodle pad that animates your drawings"/> </a> <a class="rel_title" href="/web/20121018023958/http://www.gizmag.com/scribble-pad-animates-your-drawings/15167/">The Scribble - 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Computer program is able to match rough sketches to real objects