WHILE identifying possible Covid-19 carriers in public spaces remains a key measure in controlling the global pandemic, the commonly-used infrared thermometers at building entries may be the wrong device for the job, according to a Singapore-based tech company.
Cognitive media processing group Graymatics proposes that the more effective monitoring measure is video analytics in CCTVs. As a company that develops scalable cloud platform that allows for automatic real-time indexing, analysis and classification of videos, Graymatics turns to video analytics to help ensure proper adherence to safety protocols.
“A large proportion of Covid infection cases have been asymptomatic, and arguably this has been the core reason for its massive spread,” said Abhijit Shanbhag, founder and CEO of Graymatics. “Temperature monitoring is only one piece in the puzzle. Such measures can help block a fraction of the Covid positive cases from entering malls, for example, but perhaps even more important is to ensure that the visitors in these spaces are adhering to safe behavior such as properly wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, etc.”
The tech executive drew the analogy of CCTVs as “eyes” that simply collect raw information, incapable of creating interpretations. Meanwhile, video analytics acts like the “brain,” which interprets information and provides meaningful insights. Through the technology, Graymatics has assisted businesses worldwide to draw critical insights from what is seen every day, either for businesses to run safely or to enable them to understand their customers.
As the global tally of Covid-19 cases breaches the 100-million mark, Graymatics launched “COVIDEO.ai,” a product that leverages the company’s deep video AI platform to transform passive optical and thermal CCTV’s into different Covid safety solutions.
“This includes detecting if a mask is improperly worn, different social distancing violations graded by the severity, contact tracing at different levels, and more—all in a highly hardware-efficient manner and make it at commoditized pricing. This is a very important additional layer for businesses to open safely in this critical phase,” Shanbhag said.
Graymatics was founded in 2011 in Silicon Valley with the vision to make the massive amount of CCTV video content “usable for operational efficiency, safety, security, monetization and enhancing people’s experience.” The company’s initial deployments were for Internet video aggregation sites, e-commerce applications, advertising and mobile apps. Three years ago, Graymatics shifted its focus to transforming the passive but ubiquitous CCTVs into compelling, useful solutions for different industries.
“Our focus currently is for Smart Spaces, which includes Smart Cities, Buildings, Retail and Manufacturing verticals. With APAC being a massive growth market for these opportunities, we moved our HQ from Silicon Valley to Singapore. We are particularly excited about the Philippines as a strong growth market adopting our video AI solutions in various innovative ways,” Shanbhag said.
As of press time, the Philippines has logged 516,166 cases of Covid-19 with more than 475,000 recoveries and over 10,000 deaths. On Monday, January 25, the Department of Health confirmed local transmission of the B117 variant of SARS-CoV-2, or the more contagious United Kingdom Covid-19 mutation, in Bontoc, Mountain Province, with 12 cases.
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