Machine Learning
Data-driven approaches to design intelligent algorithms.
MERL has a long history of research activity in machine learning, including the development of various boosting algorithms and contributing to the theory and practice of highly scalable collaborative filtering. Our recent work has focused on deep learning and reinforcement learning, with application to a wide range of applications including automotive, robotics, factory automation, transportation, as well as building and home systems.
Quick Links
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Researchers
Toshiaki
Koike-Akino
Ye
Wang
Jonathan
Le Roux
Ankush
Chakrabarty
Gordon
Wichern
Anoop
Cherian
Tim K.
Marks
Michael J.
Jones
Kieran
Parsons
Pu
(Perry)
WangStefano
Di Cairano
Christopher R.
Laughman
Philip V.
Orlik
Daniel N.
Nikovski
Devesh K.
Jha
Diego
Romeres
Chiori
Hori
Jing
Liu
Suhas
Lohit
Bingnan
Wang
Hassan
Mansour
Yebin
Wang
Matthew
Brand
Petros T.
Boufounos
Kuan-Chuan
Peng
Moitreya
Chatterjee
Abraham P.
Vinod
Yoshiki
Masuyama
Arvind
Raghunathan
Vedang M.
Deshpande
Jianlin
Guo
Siddarth
Jain
Hongtao
Qiao
Scott A.
Bortoff
Pedro
Miraldo
Saviz
Mowlavi
William S.
Yerazunis
Radu
Corcodel
Chungwei
Lin
Dehong
Liu
Joshua
Rapp
Hongbo
Sun
Wael H.
Ali
Yanting
Ma
Anthony
Vetro
Jinyun
Zhang
Christoph Benedikt Josef
Boeddeker
Purnanand
Elango
Abraham
Goldsmith
Alexander
Schperberg
Avishai
Weiss
Kenji
Inomata
Kei
Suzuki
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Awards
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AWARD Mitsubishi Electric Team Wins Awards at GalFer Contest Date: June 23, 2025
Awarded to: Bingnan Wang, Tatsuya Yamamoto, Yusuke Sakamoto, Siyuan Sun, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, and Ye Wang
MERL Contacts: Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Bingnan Wang; Ye Wang
Research Areas: Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, OptimizationBrief- The MELSUR (Mitsubishi Electric SURrogate) team, consisting of a group of MERL and Mitsubishi Electric researchers, ranked first in two out of three categories in the GalFer Contest.
The GalFer (Galileo Ferraris) contest aims to compare the accuracy and efficiency of data-driven methodologies for the multi-physics simulation of traction electric machines. A total of 26 teams worldwide participated in the contest, which consists of three categories. The MELSUR team, including MERL staff Bingnan Wang, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, MERL intern Siyuan Sun, Mitsubishi Electric researchers Tatsuya Yamamoto and Yusuke Sakamoto, ranked first for the category of "Novelty" and "Interpolation". The results were announced during an award ceremony at the COMPUMAG 2025 conference in Naples, Italy.
- The MELSUR (Mitsubishi Electric SURrogate) team, consisting of a group of MERL and Mitsubishi Electric researchers, ranked first in two out of three categories in the GalFer Contest.
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AWARD MERL work receives IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best New Application Paper Award from IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Date: May 19, 2025
Awarded to: Yehan Ma, Yebin Wang, Stefano Di Cairano, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Jianlin Guo, Philip Orlik, Xinping Guan and Chenyang Lu
MERL Contacts: Stefano Di Cairano; Jianlin Guo; Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Philip V. Orlik; Yebin Wang
Research Areas: Communications, Control, Machine LearningBrief- The paper “Smart Actuation for End-Edge Industrial Control Systems”, co-authored by MERL intern Yehan Ma, MERL researchers Yebin Wang, Stefano Di Cairano, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Jianlin Guo, and Philip Orlik, and academic collaborators Xinping Guan and Chenyang Lu, was recognized as the Best New Application Paper of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), for "a new industrial automation solution that ensures safety operation through coordinated co-design of edge model predictive control and local actuation".
The award recognizes the best application paper published in T-ASE over the previous calendar year, for the significance of new applications, technical merit, originality, potential impact on the field, and clarity of presentation.
- The paper “Smart Actuation for End-Edge Industrial Control Systems”, co-authored by MERL intern Yehan Ma, MERL researchers Yebin Wang, Stefano Di Cairano, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Jianlin Guo, and Philip Orlik, and academic collaborators Xinping Guan and Chenyang Lu, was recognized as the Best New Application Paper of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), for "a new industrial automation solution that ensures safety operation through coordinated co-design of edge model predictive control and local actuation".
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AWARD MERL Wins Awards at NeurIPS LLM Privacy Challenge Date: December 15, 2024
Awarded to: Jing Liu, Ye Wang, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Tsunato Nakai, Kento Oonishi, Takuya Higashi
MERL Contacts: Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Jing Liu; Ye Wang
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Information SecurityBrief- The Mitsubishi Electric Privacy Enhancing Technologies (MEL-PETs) team, consisting of a collaboration of MERL and Mitsubishi Electric researchers, won awards at the NeurIPS 2024 Large Language Model (LLM) Privacy Challenge. In the Blue Team track of the challenge, we won the 3rd Place Award, and in the Red Team track, we won the Special Award for Practical Attack.
See All Awards for Machine Learning -
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News & Events
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NEWS Diego Romeres Delivers Invited Talks at Fraunhofer Italia and the University of Padua Date: July 16, 2025 - July 18, 2025
MERL Contact: Diego Romeres
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Control, Machine Learning, Optimization, Robotics, Human-Computer InteractionBrief- MERL researcher Diego Romeres was invited to present MERL's latest research at two institutions in Italy this July, focusing on human-robot collaboration and LLM-driven assembly systems.
On July 16th, Dr. Romeres delivered a talk titled “Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly” at Fraunhofer Italia – Innovation Engineering Center (EIC) in Bolzano. His presentation showcased research on human-robot collaboration for efficient and flexible assembly processes. Fraunhofer Italia EIC is a non-profit research institute focused on enabling digital and sustainable transformation through applied innovation in close collaboration with both public and private sectors.
Two days later, on July 18th, Dr. Romeres was hosted by the University of Padua, one of Europe’s oldest and most renowned universities. His invited lecture, “Robot Assembly through Human Collaboration & Large Language Models”, explored how artificial intelligence can enhance human-robot synergy in complex assembly tasks.
- MERL researcher Diego Romeres was invited to present MERL's latest research at two institutions in Italy this July, focusing on human-robot collaboration and LLM-driven assembly systems.
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NEWS MERL researchers present 13 papers at ACC 2025 Date: July 8, 2025 - July 10, 2025
Where: Denver, USA
MERL Contacts: Ankush Chakrabarty; Vedang M. Deshpande; Stefano Di Cairano; Purnanand Elango; Jordan Leung; Saviz Mowlavi; Diego Romeres; Abraham P. Vinod; Yebin Wang; Avishai Weiss
Research Areas: Control, Dynamical Systems, Electric Systems, Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, RoboticsBrief- MERL researchers presented 13 papers at the recently concluded American Control Conference (ACC) 2025 in Denver, USA. The papers covered a wide range of topics including Bayesian optimization for personalized medicine, machine learning for battery performance in eVTOLs, model predictive control for space and building systems, process systems engineering for sustainability, GNSS-RTK optimization, convex set manipulation, PDE control, servo system modeling, battery fault diagnosis, truck fleet coordination, interactive motion planning, and satellite station keeping. Additionally, MERL researchers (Vedang Deshpande and Ankush Chakrabarty) organized an invited session on design and optimization of energy systems.
As a sponsor of the conference, MERL maintained a booth for open discussions with researchers and students, and hosted a special session to discuss highlights of MERL research and work philosophy.
- MERL researchers presented 13 papers at the recently concluded American Control Conference (ACC) 2025 in Denver, USA. The papers covered a wide range of topics including Bayesian optimization for personalized medicine, machine learning for battery performance in eVTOLs, model predictive control for space and building systems, process systems engineering for sustainability, GNSS-RTK optimization, convex set manipulation, PDE control, servo system modeling, battery fault diagnosis, truck fleet coordination, interactive motion planning, and satellite station keeping. Additionally, MERL researchers (Vedang Deshpande and Ankush Chakrabarty) organized an invited session on design and optimization of energy systems.
See All News & Events for Machine Learning -
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Research Highlights
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PS-NeuS: A Probability-guided Sampler for Neural Implicit Surface Rendering -
SAC-GNC: SAmple Consensus for adaptive Graduated Non-Convexity -
Quantum AI Technology -
TI2V-Zero: Zero-Shot Image Conditioning for Text-to-Video Diffusion Models -
Gear-NeRF: Free-Viewpoint Rendering and Tracking with Motion-Aware Spatio-Temporal Sampling -
Steered Diffusion -
Sustainable AI -
Edge-Assisted Internet of Vehicles for Smart Mobility -
Robust Machine Learning -
mmWave Beam-SNR Fingerprinting (mmBSF) -
Video Anomaly Detection -
Biosignal Processing for Human-Machine Interaction -
MERL Shopping Dataset -
Task-aware Unified Source Separation - Audio Examples
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Internships
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MS0156: Internship - Stochastic Model Predictive Control with Generative Models for Smart Building Control
MERL is looking for a research intern to develop efficient transformer-informed stochastic MPC to control net-zero energy buildings. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact in the field of cutting-edge deep learning and predictive control on a real system. Publication of results produced during the internship is desired. The expected duration of the internship is 3-6 months with a flexible start date.
The Ideal Candidate Will Have:
- Significant hands-on experience with stochastic MPC
- Publications in SMPC are a strong plus
- Fluency in Python and PyTorch
- Understanding of probabilistic time-series prediction
- Experience with convex programming
- Convex formulations of MPC/SMPC problems are a strong plus
- Completed their MS, or >50% of their PhD program
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc. "MERL" provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, MERL complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
MERL expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of MERL’s employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.
Working at MERL requires full authorization to work in the U.S and access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls. Employment is conditioned on continued full authorization to work in the U.S and the availability of government authorization for the release of these items, which might include without limitation, obtaining an export license or other documentation. MERL may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to MERL facilities and information systems, as MERL deems appropriate, to ensure practical compliance with applicable employment law and government access control restrictions.
- Significant hands-on experience with stochastic MPC
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OR0180: Internship - System Identification
MERL is looking for a highly motivated and qualified PhD student in the areas of system identification, to participate in research on advanced algorithms for system identification of mechanical systems and processes. Solid background and hands-on experience with various system identification algorithms is required, including black-box and grey-box methods. Good understanding of mechanics is expected, as well as familiarity with algorithms for computing forward and inverse dynamics of mechanical systems. Of particular help would be expertise in tribology and metal-cutting technology. Hands-on experience with physics engines and other simulators would be a plus. Solid experimental skills and hands-on experience in coding in Python is required for the position. A more general understanding of machine learning algorithms, including deep learning, and experience with relevant libraries, such as scikit-learn and PyTorch would be considered a plus. Knowledge of time series analysis methods, in particular anomaly detection in time series, would also be beneficial. Hands-on skills in data acquisition from physical systems is desirable, but not strictly required.
The position will provide opportunities for exploring fundamental problems in system identification leading to publishable results. The duration of the internship is 3 to 5 months. Preference will be given to candidates who can start in the Fall of 2025 and no later than the beginning of January 2026.
Required Specific Experience
- System identification algorithms
- Classical mechanics
- Python
Desired Specific Experience
- Modelling of metal cutting
- Tribology
- Time series analysis
- Machine learning
- Physics engines
- Data acquisition
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc. "MERL" provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, MERL complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
MERL expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of MERL’s employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.
Working at MERL requires full authorization to work in the U.S and access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls. Employment is conditioned on continued full authorization to work in the U.S and the availability of government authorization for the release of these items, which might include without limitation, obtaining an export license or other documentation. MERL may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to MERL facilities and information systems, as MERL deems appropriate, to ensure practical compliance with applicable employment law and government access control restrictions.
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ST0096: Internship - Multimodal Tracking and Imaging
MERL is seeking a motivated intern to assist in developing hardware and algorithms for multimodal imaging applications. The project involves integration of radar, camera, and depth sensors in a variety of sensing scenarios. The ideal candidate should have experience with FMCW radar and/or depth sensing, and be fluent in Python and scripting methods. Familiarity with optical tracking of humans and experience with hardware prototyping is desired. Good knowledge of computational imaging and/or radar imaging methods is a plus.
Required Specific Experience
- Experience with Python and Python Deep Learning Frameworks.
- Experience with FMCW radar and/or Depth Sensors.
See All Internships for Machine Learning -
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Openings
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CI0177: Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Agentic AI
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CA0093: Research Scientist - Control for Autonomous Systems
See All Openings at MERL -
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Recent Publications
- "Toward Long-Tailed Online Anomaly Detection through Class-Agnostic Concepts", IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), October 2025.BibTeX TR2025-124 PDF Video Data Presentation
- @inproceedings{Yang2025oct,
- author = {{{Yang, Chiao-An and Peng, Kuan-Chuan and Yeh, Raymond}}},
- title = {{{Toward Long-Tailed Online Anomaly Detection through Class-Agnostic Concepts}}},
- booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV)},
- year = 2025,
- month = oct,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-124}
- }
, - "Time-Series U-Net with Recurrence for Noise-Robust Imaging Photoplethysmography", IEEE Access, October 2025.BibTeX TR2025-145 PDF
- @article{Shenoy2025oct,
- author = {Shenoy, Vineet and Wu, Shaoju and Comas, Armand and Lohit, Suhas and Mansour, Hassan and Marks, Tim K.},
- title = {{Time-Series U-Net with Recurrence for Noise-Robust Imaging Photoplethysmography}},
- journal = {IEEE Access},
- year = 2025,
- month = oct,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-145}
- }
, - "Physics-Informed Direction-Aware Neural Acoustic Fields", IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), October 2025.BibTeX TR2025-142 PDF
- @inproceedings{Masuyama2025oct,
- author = {Masuyama, Yoshiki and Germain, François G and Wichern, Gordon and Ick, Christopher and {Le Roux}, Jonathan},
- title = {{Physics-Informed Direction-Aware Neural Acoustic Fields}},
- booktitle = {IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA)},
- year = 2025,
- month = oct,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-142}
- }
, - "FasTUSS: Faster Task-Aware Unified Source Separation", IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), October 2025.BibTeX TR2025-143 PDF
- @inproceedings{Paissan2025oct,
- author = {Paissan, Francesco and Wichern, Gordon and Masuyama, Yoshiki and Aihara, Ryo and Germain, François G and Saijo, Kohei and {Le Roux}, Jonathan},
- title = {{FasTUSS: Faster Task-Aware Unified Source Separation}},
- booktitle = {IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA)},
- year = 2025,
- month = oct,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-143}
- }
, - "Multimodal Diffusion Bridge with Attention-Based SAR Fusion for Satellite Image Cloud Removal", IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2025.3604654, Vol. 63, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-138 PDF
- @article{Hu2025sep2,
- author = {Hu, Yuyang and Lohit, Suhas and Kamilov, Ulugbek and Marks, Tim K.},
- title = {{Multimodal Diffusion Bridge with Attention-Based SAR Fusion for Satellite Image Cloud Removal}},
- journal = {IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing},
- year = 2025,
- volume = 63,
- month = sep,
- doi = {10.1109/TGRS.2025.3604654},
- issn = {1558-0644},
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-138}
- }
, - "A physics-constrained deep learning framework for dynamic modeling of vapor compression systems", Applied Energy, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-137 PDF
- @article{Ma2025sep,
- author = {Ma, JiaCheng and Dong, Yiyun and Qiao, Hongtao and Laughman, Christopher R.},
- title = {{A physics-constrained deep learning framework for dynamic modeling of vapor compression systems}},
- journal = {Applied Energy},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-137}
- }
, - "LSTM-Based Modeling and Cross-Correlation Sensitivity Analysis for Heat Pump Refrigerant Distribution", International Journal of Refrigeration, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-141 PDF
- @article{Miyawaki2025sep,
- author = {Miyawaki, Kosuke and Qiao, Hongtao and Sciazko, Anna and Shikazono, Naoki},
- title = {{LSTM-Based Modeling and Cross-Correlation Sensitivity Analysis for Heat Pump Refrigerant Distribution}},
- journal = {International Journal of Refrigeration},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-141}
- }
, - "AI-Driven Scenario Discovery: Diffusion Models and Multi-Armed Bandits for Building Control Validation", Energy and Buildings, DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116207, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-132 PDF
- @article{Tang2025sep,
- author = {Tang, Wei-Ting and Vinod, Abraham P. and Germain, François G and Paulson, Joel A. and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chakrabarty, Ankush},
- title = {{AI-Driven Scenario Discovery: Diffusion Models and Multi-Armed Bandits for Building Control Validation}},
- journal = {Energy and Buildings},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- doi = {10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116207},
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-132}
- }
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- "Toward Long-Tailed Online Anomaly Detection through Class-Agnostic Concepts", IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), October 2025.
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Videos
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Software & Data Downloads
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Generalization in Deep RL with a Robust Adaptation Module -
Subject- and Dataset-Aware Neural Field for HRTF Modeling -
Local Density-Based Anomaly Score Normalization for Domain Generalization -
MEL-PETs Joint-Context Attack for LLM Privacy Challenge -
Learned Born Operator for Reflection Tomographic Imaging -
MEL-PETs Defense for LLM Privacy Challenge -
Long-Tailed Online Anomaly Detection dataset -
Group Representation Networks -
Stabilizing Subject Transfer in EEG Classification with Divergence Estimation -
Task-Aware Unified Source Separation -
Retrieval-Augmented Neural Field for HRTF Upsampling and Personalization -
ComplexVAD Dataset -
Self-Monitored Inference-Time INtervention for Generative Music Transformers -
Radar dEtection TRansformer -
Millimeter-wave Multi-View Radar Dataset -
Gear Extensions of Neural Radiance Fields -
Long-Tailed Anomaly Detection Dataset -
Target-Speaker SEParation -
Pixel-Grounded Prototypical Part Networks -
Steered Diffusion -
BAyesian Network for adaptive SAmple Consensus -
Meta-Learning State Space Models -
Explainable Video Anomaly Localization -
Simple Multimodal Algorithmic Reasoning Task Dataset -
Partial Group Convolutional Neural Networks -
SOurce-free Cross-modal KnowledgE Transfer -
Audio-Visual-Language Embodied Navigation in 3D Environments -
Nonparametric Score Estimators -
3D MOrphable STyleGAN -
Instance Segmentation GAN -
Audio Visual Scene-Graph Segmentor -
Generalized One-class Discriminative Subspaces -
Hierarchical Musical Instrument Separation -
Generating Visual Dynamics from Sound and Context -
Adversarially-Contrastive Optimal Transport -
Online Feature Extractor Network -
MotionNet -
FoldingNet++ -
Quasi-Newton Trust Region Policy Optimization -
Landmarks’ Location, Uncertainty, and Visibility Likelihood -
Robust Iterative Data Estimation -
Gradient-based Nikaido-Isoda -
Circular Maze Environment -
Discriminative Subspace Pooling -
Kernel Correlation Network -
Fast Resampling on Point Clouds via Graphs -
FoldingNet -
Deep Category-Aware Semantic Edge Detection -
MERL Shopping Dataset -
Open Vocabulary Attribute Detection Dataset
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