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Pietro Perona is the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. His research focuses on visual recognition and the development of machine systems that can replicate human visual understanding. Currently, Professor Perona is engaged in the study of how machines can learn to recognize various objects such as frogs, cars, faces, and trees with minimal human intervention. A notable project he has contributed to is 'Visipedia,' which has led to the creation of smart device applications like iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID, allowing users to identify plant and animal species from photographs. Additionally, in collaboration with Professors Anderson and Dickinson, he is building vision systems that utilize statistical techniques to measure actions and activities in fruit flies and mice, thereby assisting geneticists and neuroethologists in examining the relationship between genetics, brain function, and behavior. His recent work investigates how to leverage the visual capabilities of thousands of people on the web to enhance image recognition tasks.
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