Benign InnovationsOct 2024 – Dec 2024

Instance Segmentation from Auto-Labeling to Edge Deployment

Includes video

An end-to-end instance-segmentation workflow spanning foundation-model auto-labeling, training, evaluation, and edge deployment.

Project media

See the system in action.

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The instance-segmentation and perception workflow demonstrated in the autonomous lawn-care robot.Open on LinkedIn

Project overview

Area Details
Goal Convert unlabeled images into an edge-deployable instance-segmentation model
Teacher models SEEM and SAMv2
Deployment model YOLOv11 with post-training quantization

I developed the full path from foundation-model-assisted annotation to a smaller deployable model. The workflow separates expensive offline label generation from efficient runtime inference, while retaining class-aware masks throughout the conversion.

Auto-labeling pipeline

  • Used SEEM to generate rough masks with class labels.
  • Converted rough masks into bounding-box prompts.
  • Used SAMv2 to generate cleaner segmentation masks from those prompts.
  • Modified SAMv2 output with an additional classifier to attach class labels to predicted masks.

Training and deployment

  • Trained a deployable YOLOv11 model using the generated labels.
  • Applied post-training quantization for faster edge-device inference.

Engineering value

The pipeline makes dataset expansion repeatable: new imagery can pass through the same teacher-model stages, be reviewed, and feed the next deployment-model iteration. This creates a practical bridge between general-purpose foundation models and product-specific edge inference.