AI will help to counter the spread of COVID-19 and accelerate the post-pandemic reopening

Synesis has developed an effective way to fight with the spread of COVID-19. The successful integration of its Kipod Smart City AI platform with thermal cameras will enable the system to be used against the rapid spread of coronavirus infection, as well as to protect people and reduce anxiety in society after quarantine.

How does Kipod work?

The first CCTV cameras that can remotely measure human body temperature were installed at the entrances to the office. The first tests confirmed the high efficiency of the technology and allowed to expect successful scaling and implementation in combination with other features of Kipod Smart City Solution.

With the help of thermal imaging cameras the platform can in real time analyze the temperature of people in the crowd and report to the responsible services if it detects deviations from the set parameters. Facial recognition technology makes it possible to quickly and accurately determine with whom the diseased person has come into contact. The platform also evaluates the crowd density, signals that the social distance is not followed and collects statistics on the attendance of the site – e.g. peak periods and maximum load.

Thus, the use of artificial intelligence will effectively solve three fundamental problems at once:

• Prevent sick people and virus carriers from visiting public places (including those without obvious signs of disease), which will help to curb the spread of the infection.
• Effectively divide the flows of healthy and sick people – for example, in clinics and drugstores.
• Promptly identify the persons who have been in contact with the diseased (the so-called first level contacts); today it is made obsolete, resource-consuming and ineffective methods.

How does that help?

According to numerous studies, one of the most unpleasant features of COVID-19 is that many carriers of the virus themselves are not aware of its presence in the body and do not always feel even high temperatures.

“If business centers, infrastructure facilities (airports, train stations, subway, etc.) and shopping malls get an opportunity to check the temperature of all people entering the facility, the spread of one of the most dangerous infections of the 21st century can slow down significantly, – says co-founder of Synesis Nikolai Ptitsyn. – We have eliminated the human factor in working with thermal imaging cameras – people with elevated temperatures are detected by cameras, and artificial intelligence helps to systematize the information received and respond to it quickly. It is efficient and does not require much work. Integration with facial recognition systems is another huge step towards automated monitoring. And we have already done it”.

Synesis believes that the new features of Kipod Smart City will allow cities to successfully deal with the spread of COVID-19, both at the peak of the pandemic and during the “reset” of social and business processes, when people will come out of self-isolation and return to the usual way of life, but still be afraid of visiting public places.

“We are now launching an interesting pilot project for a large chain of pharmacies in Florida, USA. With the Kipod platform, staff will be able to divide customer traffic into those with normal body temperature and those who come in with elevated temperatures, as well as effectively monitor social distance norms. The task of our potential client is to maximize the safety of customers in the post-Pandemic period”, – Nikolai Ptitsyn continues.

Pavel Krivozubov, Head of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Unit of the Skolkovo Foundation IT Cluster agrees with this approach: “Indeed, if people are sure that when they visit public places – be it a pharmacy or a football stadium – their loved ones will be protected from contact with those who are already infected, the world will be able to recover from the consequences of the epidemic much faster”.