Gholamreza Anbarjafari to deliver inaugural lecture on computer vision applications in human-robot interaction

On 7 September at 16:15, Professor of Computer Vision at the University of Tartu Gholamreza Anbarjafari will deliver his inaugural lecture on the applications of computer vision in human-robot interaction with a focus on affective computing. The lecture entitled “Affective Computing: Human Behaviour Analysis Using Computer Vision and Machine Learning” will be held in English in the university assembly hall.

Social AI agents and social robotic systems have recently drawn increasing attention in many disciplines, such as computer vision, artificial intelligence, human-machine interaction, and smartification of processes.

In his lecture, Professor Anbarjafari will discuss various feature extraction approaches (for example, visual-based, audio-based, or tactile-based) and the need for dimensionality reduction and semantic understanding (for example, face detection, recognition and tracking, and audio-visual feature extraction). He will speak how the results of his research in human behaviour analysis are being used to improve human-robot interaction. This is possible thanks to recognising and analysing compound emotions of human even in situations where the person is not cooperative with the acquisition system.

Anbarjafari will discuss how advances in machine learning, such as support vector machines, Hidden Markov Models, and deep learning techniques, have been used in audio-visual feature extraction and face and body analysis using high spatio-temporal resolution. He will also talk about his ongoing research on developing a computer vision-based solution for understanding how humans are blocking their emotions.

Gholamreza Anbarjafari is a Professor of Computer Vision in the Institute of Technology at the University of Tartu. His research areas include computer vision, machine learning, human-robot interaction, graphical models and artificial intelligence.

At the University of Tartu, Professor Anbarjafari has founded the intelligent computer vision laboratory, which is the largest of its kind in the Baltic states. Anbarjafari has been the Deputy Scientific Coordinator of the European Network on Integrating Vision and Language of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), and has represented Estonia in several other COST actions. He is an associate editor and guest lead editor of several journals, special issues and book projects.

Professor Anbarjafari has held many national and international grants funded by Estonian and European Union agencies, and by industrial parties.  He has supervised 17 master’s theses and seven doctoral dissertations, and published over 130 scientific works.

Further information: Gholamreza Anbarjafari, UT Professor of Computer Vision, +372 737 4855, gholamreza.anbarjafari@ut.ee