Multimodal Material Classification Using Visual Attention

The material of an object is an inherent property that can be perceived through various sensory modalities, yet the integration of multisensory information substantially improves the accuracy of these perceptions. For example, differentiating between a ceramic and a plastic cup with similar visual properties may be difficult when relying solely on visual cues. However, the integration of touch and audio feedback when interacting with these objects can significantly clarify these distinctions. Similarly, combining audio and touch exploration with visual guidance can optimize the sensory examination process. In this study, we introduce a multisensory approach for categorizing object materials by integrating visual, audio, and touch perceptions. The main contribution of this paper is the exploration of a computational model of visual attention that directs the sampling of touch and audio data. We conducted experiments using a subset of 63 household objects from a publicly available dataset, the ObjectFolder dataset. Our findings indicate that incorporating a visual attention model enhances the ability to generalize material classifications to new objects and achieves superior performance compared to a baseline approach, where data are gathered through random interactions with an object's surface.