College of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Hohai University
Abstract:Automated Essay Scoring (AES) plays a crucial role in educational assessment by providing scalable and consistent evaluations of writing tasks. However, traditional AES systems face three major challenges: (1) reliance on handcrafted features that limit generalizability, (2) difficulty in capturing fine-grained traits like coherence and argumentation, and (3) inability to handle multimodal contexts. In the era of Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), we propose EssayJudge, the first multimodal benchmark to evaluate AES capabilities across lexical-, sentence-, and discourse-level traits. By leveraging MLLMs' strengths in trait-specific scoring and multimodal context understanding, EssayJudge aims to offer precise, context-rich evaluations without manual feature engineering, addressing longstanding AES limitations. Our experiments with 18 representative MLLMs reveal gaps in AES performance compared to human evaluation, particularly in discourse-level traits, highlighting the need for further advancements in MLLM-based AES research. Our dataset and code will be available upon acceptance.
Abstract:Dexterous hand teleoperation plays a pivotal role in enabling robots to achieve human-level manipulation dexterity. However, current teleoperation systems often rely on expensive equipment and lack multi-modal sensory feedback, restricting human operators' ability to perceive object properties and perform complex manipulation tasks. To address these limitations, we present DOGlove, a low-cost, precise, and haptic force feedback glove system for teleoperation and manipulation. DoGlove can be assembled in hours at a cost under 600 USD. It features a customized joint structure for 21-DoF motion capture, a compact cable-driven torque transmission mechanism for 5-DoF multidirectional force feedback, and a linear resonate actuator for 5-DoF fingertip haptic feedback. Leveraging action and haptic force retargeting, DOGlove enables precise and immersive teleoperation of dexterous robotic hands, achieving high success rates in complex, contact-rich tasks. We further evaluate DOGlove in scenarios without visual feedback, demonstrating the critical role of haptic force feedback in task performance. In addition, we utilize the collected demonstrations to train imitation learning policies, highlighting the potential and effectiveness of DOGlove. DOGlove's hardware and software system will be fully open-sourced at https://do-glove.github.io/.
Abstract:Deep learning on non-Euclidean domains is important for analyzing complex geometric data that lacks common coordinate systems and familiar Euclidean properties. A central challenge in this field is to define convolution on domains, which inherently possess irregular and non-Euclidean structures. In this work, we introduce Quasi-conformal Convolution (QCC), a novel framework for defining convolution on Riemann surfaces using quasi-conformal theories. Each QCC operator is linked to a specific quasi-conformal mapping, enabling the adjustment of the convolution operation through manipulation of this mapping. By utilizing trainable estimator modules that produce Quasi-conformal mappings, QCC facilitates adaptive and learnable convolution operators that can be dynamically adjusted according to the underlying data structured on Riemann surfaces. QCC unifies a broad range of spatially defined convolutions, facilitating the learning of tailored convolution operators on each underlying surface optimized for specific tasks. Building on this foundation, we develop the Quasi-Conformal Convolutional Neural Network (QCCNN) to address a variety of tasks related to geometric data. We validate the efficacy of QCCNN through the classification of images defined on curvilinear Riemann surfaces, demonstrating superior performance in this context. Additionally, we explore its potential in medical applications, including craniofacial analysis using 3D facial data and lesion segmentation on 3D human faces, achieving enhanced accuracy and reliability.
Abstract:In mmWave wireless networks, signal blockages present a significant challenge due to the susceptibility to environmental moving obstructions. Recently, the availability of visual data has been leveraged to enhance blockage prediction accuracy in mmWave networks. In this work, we propose a Vision Transformer (ViT)-based approach for visual-aided blockage prediction that intelligently switches between mmWave and Sub-6 GHz frequencies to maximize network throughput and maintain reliable connectivity. Given the computational demands of processing visual data, we implement our solution within a hierarchical fog-cloud computing architecture, where fog nodes collaborate with cloud servers to efficiently manage computational tasks. This structure incorporates a generative AI-based compression technique that significantly reduces the volume of visual data transmitted between fog nodes and cloud centers. Our proposed method is tested with the real-world DeepSense 6G dataset, and according to the simulation results, it achieves a blockage prediction accuracy of 92.78% while reducing bandwidth usage by 70.31%.
Abstract:Recent advancements in AI alignment techniques have significantly improved the alignment of large language models (LLMs) with static human preferences. However, the dynamic nature of human preferences can render some prior training data outdated or even erroneous, ultimately causing LLMs to deviate from contemporary human preferences and societal norms. Existing methodologies, whether they involve the curation of new data for continual alignment or the manual correction of outdated data for re-alignment, demand costly human resources. To address this challenge, we propose a novel approach, Large Language Model Behavior Correction with Influence Function Recall and Post-Training (LANCET), which requires no human involvement. LANCET consists of two phases: (1) using influence functions to identify the training data that significantly impact undesirable model outputs, and (2) applying an Influence function-driven Bregman Optimization (IBO) technique to adjust the model's behavior based on these influence distributions. Our experiments demonstrate that LANCET effectively and efficiently correct inappropriate behaviors of LLMs. Furthermore, LANCET can outperform methods that rely on collecting human preferences, and it enhances the interpretability of learning human preferences within LLMs.
Abstract:Recent research arXiv:2410.15027 arXiv:2410.23775 has highlighted the inherent in-context generation capabilities of pretrained diffusion transformers (DiTs), enabling them to seamlessly adapt to diverse visual tasks with minimal or no architectural modifications. These capabilities are unlocked by concatenating self-attention tokens across multiple input and target images, combined with grouped and masked generation pipelines. Building upon this foundation, we present ChatDiT, a zero-shot, general-purpose, and interactive visual generation framework that leverages pretrained diffusion transformers in their original form, requiring no additional tuning, adapters, or modifications. Users can interact with ChatDiT to create interleaved text-image articles, multi-page picture books, edit images, design IP derivatives, or develop character design settings, all through free-form natural language across one or more conversational rounds. At its core, ChatDiT employs a multi-agent system comprising three key components: an Instruction-Parsing agent that interprets user-uploaded images and instructions, a Strategy-Planning agent that devises single-step or multi-step generation actions, and an Execution agent that performs these actions using an in-context toolkit of diffusion transformers. We thoroughly evaluate ChatDiT on IDEA-Bench arXiv:2412.11767, comprising 100 real-world design tasks and 275 cases with diverse instructions and varying numbers of input and target images. Despite its simplicity and training-free approach, ChatDiT surpasses all competitors, including those specifically designed and trained on extensive multi-task datasets. We further identify key limitations of pretrained DiTs in zero-shot adapting to tasks. We release all code, agents, results, and intermediate outputs to facilitate further research at https://github.com/ali-vilab/ChatDiT
Abstract:The intrinsic dynamics and event-driven nature of spiking neural networks (SNNs) make them excel in processing temporal information by naturally utilizing embedded time sequences as time steps. Recent studies adopting this approach have demonstrated SNNs' effectiveness in speech command recognition, achieving high performance by employing large time steps for long time sequences. However, the large time steps lead to increased deployment burdens for edge computing applications. Thus, it is important to balance high performance and low energy consumption when detecting temporal patterns in edge devices. Our solution comprises two key components. 1). We propose a high-performance fully spike-driven framework termed SpikeSCR, characterized by a global-local hybrid structure for efficient representation learning, which exhibits long-term learning capabilities with extended time steps. 2). To further fully embrace low energy consumption, we propose an effective knowledge distillation method based on curriculum learning (KDCL), where valuable representations learned from the easy curriculum are progressively transferred to the hard curriculum with minor loss, striking a trade-off between power efficiency and high performance. We evaluate our method on three benchmark datasets: the Spiking Heidelberg Dataset (SHD), the Spiking Speech Commands (SSC), and the Google Speech Commands (GSC) V2. Our experimental results demonstrate that SpikeSCR outperforms current state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods across these three datasets with the same time steps. Furthermore, by executing KDCL, we reduce the number of time steps by 60% and decrease energy consumption by 54.8% while maintaining comparable performance to recent SOTA results. Therefore, this work offers valuable insights for tackling temporal processing challenges with long time sequences in edge neuromorphic computing systems.
Abstract:We present The Matrix, the first foundational realistic world simulator capable of generating continuous 720p high-fidelity real-scene video streams with real-time, responsive control in both first- and third-person perspectives, enabling immersive exploration of richly dynamic environments. Trained on limited supervised data from AAA games like Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077, complemented by large-scale unsupervised footage from real-world settings like Tokyo streets, The Matrix allows users to traverse diverse terrains -- deserts, grasslands, water bodies, and urban landscapes -- in continuous, uncut hour-long sequences. Operating at 16 FPS, the system supports real-time interactivity and demonstrates zero-shot generalization, translating virtual game environments to real-world contexts where collecting continuous movement data is often infeasible. For example, The Matrix can simulate a BMW X3 driving through an office setting--an environment present in neither gaming data nor real-world sources. This approach showcases the potential of AAA game data to advance robust world models, bridging the gap between simulations and real-world applications in scenarios with limited data.
Abstract:Computational protein design (CPD) offers transformative potential for bioengineering, but current deep CPD models, focused on universal domains, struggle with function-specific designs. This work introduces a novel CPD paradigm tailored for functional design tasks, particularly for enzymes-a key protein class often lacking specific application efficiency. To address structural data scarcity, we present CrossDesign, a domain-adaptive framework that leverages pretrained protein language models (PPLMs). By aligning protein structures with sequences, CrossDesign transfers pretrained knowledge to structure models, overcoming the limitations of limited structural data. The framework combines autoregressive (AR) and non-autoregressive (NAR) states in its encoder-decoder architecture, applying it to enzyme datasets and pan-proteins. Experimental results highlight CrossDesign's superior performance and robustness, especially with out-of-domain enzymes. Additionally, the model excels in fitness prediction when tested on large-scale mutation data, showcasing its stability.
Abstract:Efficient wideband spectrum sensing (WSS) is essential for managing spectrum scarcity in wireless communications. However, existing compressed sensing (CS)-based WSS methods require high sampling rates and power consumption, particularly with high-precision analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Although 1-bit CS with low-precision ADCs can mitigate these demands, most approaches still depend on multi-user cooperation and prior sparsity information, which are often unavailable in WSS scenarios. This paper introduces a non-cooperative WSS method using multicoset sampling with 1-bit ADCs to achieve sub-Nyquist sampling without requiring sparsity knowledge. We analyze the impact of 1-bit quantization on multiband signals, then apply eigenvalue decomposition to isolate the signal subspace from noise, enabling spectrum support estimation without signal reconstruction. This approach provides a power-efficient solution for WSS that eliminates the need for cooperation and prior information.