Head Pose Estimation: Classification or Regression?
G-D. Guo, Y. Fu, C. R. Dyer and T. S. Huang, Proc. 19th Int. Conf. Pattern Recognition, 2008.

Abstract

Head pose estimation has many useful applications in practice. How to estimate the head pose automatically and robustly is still a challenging problem. In pose estimation, different pose angles can be used as regression values or viewed as different class labels. Thus a question is raised in our study: which is proper for pose estimation -- classification or regression? We investigate representative classification and regression methods on the same problem to see any difference. A method that combines regression and classification approaches is also examined. Preliminary experiments show some interesting results which might prompt further exploration of related issues in pose estimation.