The smart screen traffic light system combines AI and Digital Signage to make entrance flow management in environments like retail manageable and safe in COVID times.
(PRUnderground) June 25th, 2020
During the course of this pandemic, retailers and other public venues have been hacking together communication around safety measures and guidelines leaving shoppers feeling unsafe and uninformed. The impact of Covid-19 has significantly changed how we go about our daily business, heightening awareness of germs and contagions and making us reconsider all the surfaces we encounter. As the lockdowns begin to ease and a return to normality is within grasp, core public infrastructures such as businesses, transportation and retail are recognizing the need to adopt a new and consistent approach to providing services with C19 regulations in mind. Technology can be used as a flexible and effective tool to address this problem and to actively prevent the rise of new infections.
Figure 1. Examples of hacked solutions in Retail
Smart Store Traffic Light System
Artificial Intelligence company Sightcorp has launched an innovative product this week centered around C19 retail solutions. The new technology builds upon their existing state-of-the-art, crowd analysis software, DeepSight. It uses a combination of sensors, AI software and digital signage to create a smart store traffic light system enabling businesses to create a safe environment as the public is making their way back to stores again. The unique smart store technology adopts a multi-faceted approach using facial analysis and crowd control to create an effective entrance flow management system. The software performs a completely anonymized analysis on an individual or crowd basis. No personal data is ever collected or stored which makes this solution fully privacy proof. The gathered data can be integrated with any content management system (CMS) or a reporting dashboard for further analysis of trends.
Figure 2. Dynamic messaging changes between digital ads and face mask reminders.
Entrance flow management
Sightcorp’s new smart store technology can be applied using digital displays, which can conveniently switch between displaying targeted advertisements to safety communications and access control updates. The software has the ability to determine whether an establishment has reached its full capacity, using a people counting system located at the entrance and exit. From there key messages can be transmitted to customers arriving at an entrance via a digital screen. The screen content can be programmed to display real-time updates on whether it is possible to enter the store, while also including a ‘stop and go’ traffic light system to ensure complete message transparency. This contactless method of controlling the flow of traffic into premises could provide key benefits in relieving staff members of queue management tasks.
Face Mask Detection on Demand
The new traffic light solution created by Sightcorp also comes with a face mask detection algorithm that can be turned on and off when needed, allowing for real-time mask detection of customers entering the store. If a visitor is found not to be wearing a mask or wearing one incorrectly, a reminder message can be displayed on the screen, or a trigger can be sent to an access control gate or a smart device (e.g. smartphone, smart watch).
Figure 3. Our face mask detection is built to detect a face mask and also if it’s worn properly
Future proof solutions
Computer vision technologies are becoming widely used and incorporated in these times to aid in safe reintegration back into society. They have the potential to become part of our public infrastructure, and when used effectively, can make our communities safer, lives more convenient, and become a valuable resource for security. The impact of Covid-19 has been significant but having these products readily available can help make future pandemics easier to cope with.
“Advance planning and preparedness help mitigate the impact of future pandemics.” – The World Health Organization
Sightcorp’s new feature additions to their current product DeepSight are precisely that, easy to use and effective settings that can be turned on and off as required. Therefore, allowing for adjustments to be made as circumstances evolve or as any new health threats emerge for the public in the future.
‘I truly believe that the newest addition to our already powerful audience analytics product can aid retail sectors across the globe to communicate the daily changes in rules and guidelines in a smarter and effective way while keeping everyone safe.’
–Joyce Caradonna, CEO Sightcorp
Face masks and audience analytics
Apart from detecting masks, many retailers and advertisers use audience measurement software for people counting, demographic analysis and for gathering ad performance metrics. Therefore it’s very important for the technology to remain robust and accurate even when analyzing faces partially covered by face masks. Sightcorp’s DeepSight models have been developed and re-trained with this in mind and are still able to detect and estimate the gender and the age of all audiences. The audience measurement and face masks detection technologies run in parallel so retailers can make sure their visitors wear face masks during shopping while still collecting valuable demographic data at the same time.
About Sightcorp
Sightcorp is an AI spin-off from the University of Amsterdam specializing in face analysis & face recognition software. Through computer vision and deep learning, Sightcorp can analyze and recognize faces in images, videos, and in real-time.
Original Press Release.
