Deep learning-based multi-modal approach using RGB and skeleton sequences for human activity recognition

The deep learning techniques have achieved great success in the application of human activity recognition (HAR). In this paper, we propose a technique for HAR that utilizes the RGB and skeleton information with the help of a convolutional neural network (Convnet) and long short-term memory (LSTM) as a recurrent neural network (RNN). The proposed method has two parts: first, motion representation images like motion history image (MHI) and motion energy image (MEI) have been created from the RGB videos. The convnet has been trained, using these images with feature-level fusion. Second, the skeleton data have been utilized with a proposed algorithm that develops skeleton intensity images, for three views (top, front and side). Each view is first analyzed by a convnet, that generates the set of feature maps, which are fused for further analysis. On top of convnet sub-networks, LSTM has been used to exploit the temporal dependency. The softmax scores from these two independent parts are later combined at the decision level. Apart from the given approach for HAR, this paper also presents a strategy that utilizes the concept of cyclic learning rate to develop a multi-modal neural network by training the model only once to make the system more efficient. The suggested approach privileges for the perfect utilization of RGB and skeleton data available from an RGB-D sensor. The proposed approach has been tested on three famous and challenging multimodal datasets which are UTD-MHAD, CAD-60 and NTU-RGB + D120. Results have shown that the stated method gives a satisfactory result as compared to the other state-of-the-art systems.