# StuffNet: Using 'Stuff' to Improve Object Detection

Source: [StuffNet: Using 'Stuff' to Improve Object Detection](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa63171e209131ce9fca19>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-25T20:32:19.733Z

Authors: Samarth Brahmbhatt, Henrik I. Christensen, James Hays

Published: 2016-10-19T04:44:51.000Z

## Abstract

We propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based algorithm - StuffNet - for object detection. In addition to the standard convolutional features trained for region proposal and object detection \[31\], StuffNet uses convolutional features trained for segmentation of objects and 'stuff' (amorphous categories such as ground and water). Through experiments on Pascal VOC 2010, we show the importance of features learnt from stuff segmentation for improving object detection performance. StuffNet improves performance from 18.8% mAP to 23.9% mAP for small objects. We also devise a method to train StuffNet on datasets that do not have stuff segmentation labels. Through experiments on Pascal VOC 2007 and 2012, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and show that StuffNet also significantly improves object detection performance on such datasets.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.05861>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1610.05861.pdf>)
