A manufacturer is leveraging the power of AI to boost safety, efficiency and productivity on the factory floor. A vision AI solution is helping manufacturing managers check that employees are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), including caps, wrist straps and masks, properly. The solution is also assisting in managing employee clock-ins and secure area control.
The challenge
IP cameras to capture real-time images and a powerful edge AI system were required to enable whole groups of employees to clock-in, grant permissions for working zones, and ensure that anyone attempting to operate specialised machinery had proper safety attire, with no excessive idle time. Additionally, the system needed to send an alert to managers if it detected any abnormalities among personnel operating crucial equipment.
The solution
Advantech collaborated with CyberLink to implement AI-based facial recognition technology for seamless access control and securing restricted areas, while another ISV partner contributed to PPE and idle time detection.
AIR-020, an ultra-compact, low-power AI inference device, supports 21 TOPS for real-time detection on edge. This offers AI-based analytics capabilities and enables monitoring of assembly lines and detection of workers efficiency on the production line. With the in-built NVIDIA Jetson family and Yolo5 AI-trained models from an ISV partner, it’s able to process images and detect PPE and worker movement with low latency.
Featuring a small footprint of just 5.47″ x 4.33″ x 1.75″, the AIR-020 AI box fits perfectly into an industrial environment with its support for wide-range 12-24V DC power input, -10 to 55°C operating range and vibration and humidity resistance. The unit is equipped with extensive I/O ports for seamless camera, Wi-Fi, storage and multifunction module connections.
AIR-020 benefits from Ubuntu 20.04 enhanced security and stability, including a constant security patching process and kernel self-protection, stack-clash protection and control-flow integrity features.
Strong partnerships deliver results
CyberLink supported Advantech on the project from start to finish, from acquiring custom data and visualising it to training the deep learning model and testing it, adapting it and validating the inference results directly on AIR-020. CyberLink FaceMe helped enhance outstanding image processing, and issues related to poor lighting and image quality caused by environmental conditions were resolved. This enables accurate and secure PPE verification, attendance management and access control through facial recognition, with real-time alerts sent to manufacturing managers.
Advantech collaborated with an ISV partner and CyberLink to provide integrated solutions, assisting the manufacturer in seamlessly implementing the AI technology.
The manufacturer benefits from a reliable, compact AI system designed to meet the demands of critical working environments. The Ubuntu Image 20.04 and the latest built-in JetPack are also convenient for AI development.
Employee safety and efficiency is optimised, and managers are freed up to focus on production planning and operations.
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Article courtesy of Advantech.
