Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal Innovators developed a low cost ‘Crowd and Mask’ Monitoring System to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Institutes are commencing the process of resuming colleges in phases, and this AI-powered system will help maintain a minimum of three feet of social distancing.
In an initiative to tackle the spread of COVID-19, Dr. P.B. Sujit, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, along with Dr. Mitradip Bhattacharjee and Dr. Santanu Talukdar, Assistant Professors, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Venkateshwar Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IISER Bhopal, and BSMS Student Kasi Viswanath developed this AI-enabled device that can replicate manual policing to ensure the COVID-19 prevention norms are being followed.
Elaborating on the innovation, Dr. P.B. Sujit, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, IISER Bhopal, said: “We wanted a simple advisory system to warn students of breaching social distancing norms, at selected locations.”
To achieve the desired outcome, the innovators used the principles of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) in a high definition camera attached to a microchip computer and a 5V battery in a 3D printed case to monitor the movement of people on the campus. If the camera detects that the social distancing and mask norms are not being followed the device starts alerting the crowd with a pre-recorded message.
The IISER Bhopal team said: “Given the opportunity, this device can be deployed at various crowded public places to ensure that the basic safety rules are not violated, in this tough time of COVID-19 pandemic.”
