Multi-scale predictions fusion for robust hand detection and classification

In this paper, we present a multi-scale predictions fusion region-based Fully Convolutional Networks (MSPF-RFCN) to robustly detect and classify human hands under various challenging conditions. In our approach, the input image is passed through the proposed network to generate score maps, based on multi-scale predictions fusion. The network has been specifically designed to deal with small objects. It uses an architecture based on region proposals generated at multiple scales. Our method is evaluated on challenging hand datasets, namely the Vision for Intelligent Vehicles and Applications (VIVA) Challenge and the Oxford hand dataset. It is compared against recent hand detection algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method achieves state-of-the-art detection for hands of various sizes.