| BLOG

Facial Recognition in the Built Environment

Picture of Giulia papi

Giulia papi

Marketing Manager

Over the last few months innDex has been working closely with Touchbyte. Together we have developed a new facial recognition access control solution for construction and facilities management. The project was supported by Innovate UK as part of their Covid-19 response fund. Our first pilot project commenced last week on a site in North London. 

We open our phones and travel between countries all with our face.
Why shouldn’t we access our construction sites and provide proof of presence using our face too?
Why shouldn’t our industry have the latest and most advanced technology developed by UK SME’s?

We decided to pursue this project because of our frustrations with the lack of innovation on construction sites. Covid-19 was the perfect excuse to accelerate this project. In March suddenly all of the hand biometric scanners became redundant. BuildUK identified them as key risks as part of their site operating procedures. Contractors started using card readers again and paper based sign in processes. Neither of which is particularly effective or reliable. 

 

By April we were thinking about how we could support track and trace. We started testing various systems, but nothing quite met our requirements which were as follows: 

  • Cost effective to implement.
  • Made in the UK.
  • Reliable.

We decided to support Touchbyte as part of the Innovate UK response to Covid-19. It’s also important to state that we don’t see facial recognition access control as a short term fad. It’s a long term trend that is going to change our industry. The benefits and applications of facial recognition are vast. These include; 

  • Immutable proof of presence & identity.
  • More secure and simpler to use.
  • Better value when compared to other solutions.

Below are some simple FAQ about Facial Recognition. If you would like to learn more please get in touch. 

WHAT IS FACIAL RECOGNITION?

Facial Recognition is a biometric identification system. It’s been developed to identify or verify a person by comparing and analysing patterns, based on the person’s stored records or facial contours in real time.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Uses biometrics to identify and map facial features, from a photograph, or even in real-time. It then compares the information with its database of pre-known faces to find a match. This data can then be stored and accessed.

WHAT ARE ITS USES?

Whether it’s providing safety and security at airports, counting footfall within retail, opening a space, or unlocking your phone, facial recognition is used in nearly every sector of daily life.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

TouchByte’s contactless facial recognition systems are Covid-compliant. FR can also be easily personalised, to coincide with digital signage, or to obtain vital data about your customers.

WHAT'S THE TOP MISCONCEPTION?

It is racially biased. This is false. AI doesn’t have a conscience, and so isn’t able to discriminate against different ethnicities. The better tested an algorithm is, the better able it is to identify faces in different environments.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

RECENT POSTS