Coronavirus: AI firms deploy fever detection systems in Beijing to fight outbreak
- Megvii and Baidu have rolled out advanced temperature screening systems in major Beijing railway stations
- National AI champions are taking the lead in Beijing’s latest initiative against the coronavirus outbreak
National AI champions Megvii and Baidu, which are both based in the nation’s capital, have introduced their systems in response to the call made last month by Zhongguancun Science City, the administrator of Beijing’s innovation parks, to improve temperature monitoring in the city.
Megvii said on Tuesday that pilot programmes for its remote fever detection system have been set up in the city’s Mudanyuan subway station and at a government administration building in the northwestern district of Haidian. That followed online search giant Baidu’s activation of infrared sensors at Qinghe station on Sunday.
The Beijing government last Friday started temperature measurements at all subway stations in the city, using traditional infrared imaging scanners and handheld thermometers.
Megvii’s remote fever detection system can measure a person’s temperature in a crowd at a distance of up to five metres. The system was designed to work through masks and hats worn by people, with a margin of error within 0.3 degrees Celsius, according to the company.
It said the system, which covers as many as 16 checkpoints at one station, can measure the temperature of up to 15 people per second at each checkpoint, quickly locate a person in a group image and send fever alerts, while requiring just one staff on site, according to a Megvii representative.