Hyderabad: Startup helps keep tabs on physical distancing

Hyderabad: Physical distancing and wearing face masks have been proven to be very effective measures to slow down the spread of COVID 19. Keeping a physical distance of 6 feet from other people, can reduce the probability of transmitting the virus from an infected person to an uninfected one. Taking such precautions can save the necessity for isolation later from loved ones and family.

Maven Labs, a start-up firm based at the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at University of Hyderabad (UoH), has come up with a tool SudRz (Sanskrit, meaning - keen-sighted) developed under Project METIS (Medical Engineering Technology Industrial Strategy). This tool can monitor social distance in a location with large foot-falls by detecting whether the physical distance between people is at least 6 feet.

The tool analyses real-time video streaming from cameras- eg. CCTV and identifying physical distancing violations using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm between all pairs of individuals. Distancing violations are conveyed, along with alarm features on the screen with individuals framed in a box. Cameras with IP enabled are sufficient to implement the system.

The tool has an added built-in feature for Facial Recognition using AI. Once an identification of a face is made with other identifying data such as passport number or employee number, contact less processing by remote facial recognition can be used for functions and locations such as selective entry into restricted areas, attendance monitoring, airports etc. This helps to ensure employee and public safety.