Spooky, your silhouettes are getting real!

TOKYO: Hitachi has developed a technology which can accurately measure human behavior and estimate attributes (characteristics) in real time. It's spooky, but yes you silhouettes are getting real!

The technology:
By leveraging Hitachi's image recognition technologies and stereo camera technologies, the new technology measures the behavior of people and estimates their attributes with high accuracy and in real time.

A stereo camera is a sensor featuring two separate lenses which recognize the external world as human eyes, and the camera can measure the distance between itself and objects and acquire its 3D data. It is thus possible to stably measure human behavior even in a crowded space where people overlap, and process the obtained data accurately and in real time.

Furthermore, by performing stereoscopic analysis of people and their surrounding objects for example, large luggage and baby strollers can be identified, and the attributes of their owners can be estimated.

Also, support services to improve QoL (Quality of Life) is especially needed to address issues such as an aging and falling birth-rate population and reduction of the burden that physically challenged persons experience.

Edge over traditional
Conventional technologies to measure human behavior include the use of surveillance cameras, laser radars, infrared tags, and GPS-equipped information terminals.

Measurement using surveillance camera image data generally determines the positions of people by detecting their silhouettes. However, silhouettes cannot be recognized by this method in a crowded space, and manual manipulation is necessary.

Conventional methods thus have difficulty in measuring human behavior in real time and with great accuracy.

Hitachi is engaged in research and development to commercialize this technology and contribute to realizing more comfortable urban spaces and providing services tailored to individual needs.