Robust head pose estimation using supervised manifold learning

Abstract

We address the problem of fine-grain head pose angle estimation from a single 2D face image as a continuous regression problem. Currently the state of the art, and a promising line of research, on head pose estimation seems to be that of nonlinear manifold embedding techniques, which learn an "optimal" low-dimensional manifold that models the nonlinear and continuous variation of face appearance with pose angle. Furthermore, supervised manifold learning techniques attempt to achieve this robustly in the presence of latent variables in the training set (especially identity, illumination, and facial expression), by incorporating head pose angle information accompanying the training samples. Most of these techniques are designed with the classification scenario in mind, however, and are not directly applicable to the regression scenario where continuous numeric values (pose angles), rather than class labels (discrete poses), are available. In this paper, we propose to deal with the regression case in a principled way. We present a taxonomy of methods for incorporating continuous pose angle information into one or more stages of the manifold learning process, and discuss its implementation for Neighborhood Preserving Embedding (NPE) and Locality Preserving Projection (LPP). Experiments are carried out on a face dataset containing significant identity and illumination variations, and the results show that our regression-based approach far outperforms previous supervised manifold learning methods for head pose estimation. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.