We know they want to track us, tell us what we can and cannot do in today’s society. But the main question I have is, will this technology cease to exist after covid is over? No it’s here to stay and will only get more Orwellian as the years go on.. Look at China now, all the citizens are marked and watched daily through a network of thousands of cameras in one city alone. So do you think all this is for your ‘protection’? Well you deserve what’s coming for you then…

Using AI to Detect Social Distancing Violations

Many cities in the US and Europe are reopening cautiously now. People have been instructed to follow social distancing rules as they venture out. But do people follow them? It can be important for cities to assess this and take action accordingly. If most people follow them, then more places can be opened safely. However, if there are many violations then it may be safer to close. This is exactly what happened at Miami Beach park. The park opened at the end of April but was closed within the week since too many people were flouting rules related to wearing masks and socially distancing themselves. The city detected this by using officers to monitor the park and issue warnings. But human monitoring may not be a practical solution.

How can we use AI and machine learning to detect if people are following social distancing rules? Most cities already have cameras installed at public places which can be used for this. In this blog, I show how we can use people tracking algorithms to monitor violations. I have also open sourced the code on my Github. See this model in action below.

Why do we need to track people for our purpose of social distancing detection? The reason for this is that we want to find the unique number of people who are violating social distancing rules. In the absence of a tracker, if two people are walking close together then they will be counted as a violation in every frame, however if we use a tracker then we can count this as a single incidence of violation.

Smart sensors could track social distancing in the office

An Israeli company thinks it can help, using smart sensors mounted on workplace ceilings. PointGrab developed its technology before the pandemic to help workspace managers optimize how employees use office space. About the size of a smoke alarm, the sensors can record the exact number and location of people in buildings including offices, hotels and restaurants.

Now PointGrab has adapted the technology so the sensors can also monitor social distancing by keeping track of how far apart people are, and whether they’re traveling in one direction around a building.

Workspace managers can set up alerts for when two people are closer than two meters for more than 30 seconds, for example. “An organization will choose what to do with that alert,”