Hong Kong aviation engineering high-fliers get down to earth to help rescue teams find lost hikers
- PolyU graduates Max Lee and Josua Chan develop AI technology that slashes time needed to analyse search-and-rescue drone images
- Pair turned to entrepreneurship after they graduated in 2020 to an aviation industry left reeling by coronavirus crisis
High-flying Hong Kong aviation engineering graduates who launched a start-up to pioneer an artificial intelligence (AI) programme to assist in spotting signs of missing hikers in drone images helped speed up the massive effort to rescue a lost 17-year-old boy.
The AI technology developed by Polytechnic University’s Max Lee Jwo-lem and Josua Chan Wing-hei slashed the time needed to decode drone images by two-thirds as rescuers could now sift through analysed images with grids that pinpointed locations of clothing traces and silhouettes, they explained on Thursday.
Search teams previously had to manually scan through thousands of pictures showing dense foliage.
“I think it’s really great that we’re translating what we learned from our major and translating this knowledge into application to actually potentially save lives,” said Lee, who is studying for a PhD degree at the university’s department of aeronautical and aviation engineering.
The pair, both 25, formed a start-up called LifeSparrow Solutions and teamed up with the Fire Services Department to develop a tailor-made AI programme for rescue drones.
The software was used in the search for missing Matthew Tsang Hin-chit, 17, who was found about 100 metres (328 feet) from a hiking trail in Ma On Shan Country Park on Wednesday after he had been missing for seven days.