Amazon SageMaker Ground Truth can now create virtual objects for AI model training

IttakesmassiveamountsofdatatotrainAImodels.Butsometimes,thatdatasimplyisn’tavailablefromreal-worldsources,sodatascientistsusesyntheticdatatomakeupforthat.Inmachinevisionapplications,thatmeanscreatingdifferentenvironmentsandobjectstotrainrobotsorself-drivingcars,forexample.Butwhiletherearequiteafewtoolsouttheretocreatevirtualenvironments,therearen’talotoftoolsforcreatingvirtualobjects.

Atitsre:MARSconference,AmazontodayannouncedsyntheticsinSageMakerGroundTruth,anewfeatureforcreatingavirtuallyunlimitednumberofimagesofagivenobjectindifferentpositionsandunderdifferentlightingconditions,aswellasdifferentproportionsandothervariations.

WithWorldForge,thecompanyalreadyoffersatooltocreatesyntheticscenes.“Insteadofgeneratingwholeworldsfortherobottomovearound,thisisspecifictoitemsorindividualcomponents,”AWSVPofEngineeringBillVasstoldme.HenotedthatthecompanyitselfneededatoollikethisbecauseevenwiththemillionsofpackagesthatAmazonitselfships,itstilldidn’thaveenoughimagestotrainarobot.

ImageCredits:Amazon

“WhatGroundTruthSyntheticsdoesisyoustartwiththe3D modelinanumberofdifferentformatsthatyoucanpullitinandit’llsyntheticallygeneratephotorealisticimagesthatmatchtheresolutionofthesensorsyouhave,”heexplained.Andwhilesomecustomerstodaypurposelydistressorbreakthephysicalpartsofamachine,forexample,totakepicturesofthemtotraintheirmodels—whichcanquicklybecomequiteexpensive—theycannowdistressthevirtualpartsinsteadanddothatmillionsoftimesifneeded.

Hecitedtheexampleofacustomerwhomakeschickennuggets.Thatcustomerusedthetooltosimulatelotsofmalformedchickennuggetstotraintheirmodel.

VassnotedthatAmazonisalsopartneringwith3Dartiststohelpcompaniesthatmaynothaveaccesstothatkindofin-housetalenttogetstartedwiththisservice,whichusestheUnrealEnginebydefault,thoughitalsosupportsUnityandtheopensourceOpen3DEngine.Usingthoseengines,userscanthenalsostartsimulatingthephysicsofhowthoseobjectswouldbehaveintherealworld,too.