Last week we explained that it was our last post and the end of our journey. But in order to thank you for joining our journey over the last few months, we wanted to leave you with an after-taste about the technology and also a glimpse of our team as well.
In
our posts, we talked a lot about the Video Analytics technology, its
applications, the intrinsic benefits of it and its future challenges related to our daily lives. In the video below, you can see some of our team members (Pierre, Kyle and Ushi) talking about the technology and our blog in a wrap-up session and discover the V.A.M.P way of investigating new technologies!
As the cliche goes, "all good things must come to an end", and so must this fascinating trip that we've taken together through this blog. We have seen how Video Analytics can revolutionise the Gaming Industry (think Wii and Kinect which does that to a basic level today), we have seen how we can fairly and objectively compare players (Messi vs Ronaldo) and we have seen how it can enhance security while making it cheaper and more efficient. We hope you've enjoyed learning about this wonderful new technology and have found our posts both entertaining and educative.
Unfortunately, as is always the case, with interesting topics like this, there is never enough time to cover all that there is to be talked about. If we have been able to excite you about this technology and you want more information and background reading, here are some more links that you can look up:
This site takes you through the future of the technology and some of the basic challenges that are yet to be overcome.
This paper from Andrew Adams (Meiji University) and James Ferryman (Reading University) talks about Video Analytics from a more ethical perspective.
AgentVI is a company focused on providing Video Analytics solutions. Their website provides a rich overview of the capabilities of the technology and how it works.
IBM provides a Video Analytics suite as well which is described in good detail.
Like any other emergent technologies, there are many challenges yet to be overcome. Primarily, challenges for Video Analytics are around false alarms, reliability, etc. Think about rain in the outdoors. Rain distorts what a camera sees, and hence it introduces noise into the analytics procedure thus creating false alarms. But given time, and focus, such problems have been overcome in the past and can be overcome here too. Sometimes, solutions can be low tech even. For example, rain resistant films can be placed on the camera screens that are capturing the video.
It has been a pleasure researching this topic. If you need more information, then feel free to leave us a message and we will get back to you. Best of luck and here's to a beautiful world with Video Analytics.
From all of us Majo Pundits,
Kyle, Marcelo, Pierre, Catalina, Hasan and Ushinor.
Last November, a terrible tragedy
occurred in Madrid, in a Halloween party celebrated at Madrid Arena, an indoor building
located at the fairgrounds in the Casa de Campo. Five girls were crushed to
death when a human crowd, out of control, tried to leave the premises. This was partly due to the fact that the organizers of the party had sold more than
double of the tickets they said they had officially sold, and the place was way
over its capacity. However, it was not the first time such an unfortunate event
had happened. Similar situations took
place in other moments in other countries: in 2010 more than 20 people were
killed in a human stampede in the Love Parade in Duisburg, Germany, among
others.
So how can Video Analytics help here? Could these and other tragedy have been prevented?
Well, video analytics could offer a great deal of help in
this regard. The technology is already available for counting people in crowds.
In fact this technology is already being used for commercial purposes in the
supermarkets to count the number of customers coming in and out of the store
for marketing research purposes as well as operational capabilities. Having
this technology for nightclubs can help to enforce the control of the capacity
of the enterprise and fulfill the legal capacity requirements often ignored by
the business owners.
If more tragic events like the one in Madrid keep on happening,
negative publicity will build up and pressure will be on club
owners and local and federal governments to take action. People need to be protected and these risks
need to be mitigated. One clear way of implementing the risk
management tool is video analytics monitoring system enforcing and aligning
ticket scanning at the entrance with the capacity limitation established by the
city authorities.
If governments would enforce the use of this technology they
could monitor the compliance of companies with regulations and
that pavilions and arenas used for events do not surpass their capacity.
No, I like my Personal Trainer a lot. Now with summer round the corner I need him even more!
Well, what you need is to shed a few of those extra pounds. But do you really really need your personal trainer? For example, what if the role of the trainer could be assumed by someone else? Or, perhaps, something else.
Ah, don't tell me any more about the thousands of DVDs and Videos out there proposing the perfect workout routine.
You mean videos like this that were so popular in the 80´s and 90´s?
Well, of course nowadays there are thousands of websites and videos that give you advice on how to train, how to best do push ups or how to stretch. There are even devices like the “Wii Fit” that can more or less propose a work out routine. But what they don't offer you is supervision of your training, like what a personal trainer offers on how exactly you perform these exercises. Also, there is no way to receive accurate feedback on how you are actually executing the specific movements.
But, Video Analytics gives us a better way. We can take this a step further and you won't have to deal with any of those annoying videos, neither will you have to deal with the expensive personal trainers.
No way! How would this thing work?
Wouldn’t it be attractive to have an interactive system at home that could motorize how you do fitness? Like a “Wii fit” but that gives you real feedback on how you are working out.
Is the position of your feet correct? Is the way in which you are lifting your leg going to damage your back?
The way it would work is a VCA unit will continually look at your posture and your movements. Just like your trainer does. And then the software inside the VCA unit will do exactly what your trainer does today. The VCA program already knows what the correct movements are. It will match your movements to what it knows to be correct, and then scold you if you're doing it wrong or cheer you on if its right. Very much like your personal trainer.
This sounds awesome! So which companies make this device? How much does it cost?
Well, you're a little bit ahead of the gun there. There's no such device in the market yet, but there are plenty under development. Currently, leading the market in this segment is a company called Sportstec (www.sportstec.com). Take a look at their website to see the amazing array of products they are offering. While its still not mainstream yet, this is bound to get bigger in the future.
Imagine! You can carry your personal trainer with you wherever you go!
Video analytics seems awesome… so why is it not growing faster?
Video analytics is a trending topic. We have seen that its applications and benefits are endless, and no doubt in the near future we will see many derivations of this technology. But nowadays, what is holding back the growth of video analytics?
This technology is facing mainly the following problems:
Accuracy - The system is still inaccurate. This means it still has a lot of errors and raises false alerts and needs maintenance.
Human Intervention - It needs human intervention or monitoring, which increases the cost of the system overall.
Privacy and Security - Another crucial issue is the growing concern about privacy and the protection of civil rights. The installation of video analytics tools massively will necessarily imply that everyone is seeing anywhere at any time. This is scary. Who is in charge of this information? Who will use it and for what purpose? This could turn into a huge Orwellian Big Brother. Some Hollywood movies are already making us aware of this… Legislation always tends to trail a bit behind industry. The legislative reality also differs from country to country in terms of the degree of safety and guarantees they offer when treating data and transferring data, which makes things even more complicated and confusing.
Apart from just these three main, there are also Environmental and Computational Factors that can affect the performance of Video Analytics. This page can give you a lot more detail on what these are and how it can affect the performance.
Wow...Is it possible to get around this?
Of course it is possible. Eventually, as these issues are taken care of, the costs will be reduced and the technology will become more affordable. As of now, the principal users of the tools are public administrations, who can pay the price of using this services and also overcome legislative issues, while private ones, more concerned with cost and profit, need to think twice before making use of it. Have a good weekend and don't forget to come back and visit us next week!
Messi or Ronaldo?
Who’s better? Can it be answered? Yes!
Many have asked the question above, and there has never been
a common consensus.Goals scored, number of assists or
individual/ team trophies won do not always dictate the effectiveness of a player has on the game of
soccer (football).However, what if we said
that there is a way to quantitatively answer this question, and without using goals
scored?Would you believe it?Well you should, because the technology does
exist.
So how does it work?
There is company called Prozone Sports (www.prozonesports.com) that does
exactly what we speak of. Prozone
sports offers services that include post-match analysis, opposition analysis, player
recruitment, live performance, referee, and research & consultancy.It’s unbiased and nonobjective.It makes transforms all of the elements of
the game, including the ball and the players, into “data points” and then uses
complex algorithms to analyze the data.
Prozone sports uses 8-12 high-tech cameras positioned around
the stadium to track players movements.Combined with complex software Prozone provides performance analysis
based on physical, tactical, and technical components of each player.Prozone’s products, which are several, are
customizable and flexible so that it can fit to each coaches/teams preferences.
Many of the top clubs around the world use this type of
VCA.These include Manchester United,
Real Madrid, Arsenal, and multiple national teams (England and USA).
So who’s ACTUALLY better, Messi or Ronaldo?
We are not sure.You are going to have to ask employees of Prozone if they have tried to compare the two. We are just avid bystanders who are fascinated by the idea of combining technology and sports together, and then seeing the results.
Have you ever had the opportunity to observe what a Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring station looks like? Take it from us, its glum. Imagine being in a dark room with up to 50 screens and you have to monitor all of them. That sounds bad? Well, it gets worse. Remember, that in most of the 50 screens for most of the time....nothing ever happens. And also, you have no clue what you are looking for and what is about to happen. No wonder no child has ever said that he wanted to grow up and be a CCTV monitoring man....
Take a look at the below images to get an idea what life is like in a CCTV monitoring room.
But, that's all about to change though....
Let me guess.....Video Analytics again?
You guessed right! Yes, it is indeed Video Analytics. Using a network of cameras, we can monitor all that's going on. If something fishy is happening, the computers can even zoom in and take a good look and keep the video for later recovery. And in case something really really fishy is going on, it can even send you a message telling you about it so that you can come in and personally intervene.
And the best thing about it all? No human being needs to be sat anywhere looking at 50 screens waiting for something to happen when he could be spending time with his family, watching his local football team, or enjoying a quiet pint at his neighbourhood pub.
No way! What about security? Can you trust a machine?
The question is, can you trust a human? Human capital is limited. Human potential is also limited. Think about it, has CCTV monitoring by humans ever prevented a serious crime? It may have helped in later investigations, but it has never helped prevent one as far as we know. For example, of the 100 people entering the London metro every minute, its impossible for one (or even five) people to continually scan them for any dangerous faces, etc. But using Video Analytics, we can train computers to do the job for us, and they can do it a lot better than we can.
OK, I get it. So how does it all work?
To avoid boring you, this time we have a video form a company called Observision to do the talking and explaining for us. Observision is a Malaysian ICT solutions company, and are one of the pioneers of the application of Video Analytics to the security industry. Watch this and you'll be totally convinced by the awesome potential. I'm sure a lot of CCTV monitoring people will be very excited too when they get their hands on this technology...
We hope you enjoyed the video and enjoyed learning more about Video Analytics. We'll be back with more fun and innovative stuff for you to enjoy next week!
After this week of holidays and having
presented Eye Tracking, we’re going to speak about Facial Recognition. Facial
Recognition is a computer system that allows automatic identification of a person
from a picture or a video frame (for example). Nowadays, it is easy to detect a
face in a picture or video, the tools are performing from the moment it can detect a face on the camera or video. The smartphones, webcams and digital cameras now
incorporate facial recognition as a tool for autofocus.
So what could be some of the applications
of Face Recognition?
Police research to identify a
theft recorded by a surveillance camera (close circuit television also focuses
on the comportment recognition thanks to the steps analysis or suspect paths
in a public area)
Access control secured by a
robot
And so on
In fact, you certainly already know about the topic
via Facebook. The company had to abandon facial recognition in Europe;
detecting people’s faces on pictures could put their private lives in jeopardy.
But in the US, this technology keeps going: facial recognition is used by government
agencies (FBI among others) and private companies. Furthermore, this technology
should soon be used by the military industry. The US Air Force could have
up to 30,000 drones in 2030 equipped with facial or biometric recognition
allowing them to identify individuals depending on their size, age, kind and
skin color. As a concrete example, the US used facial identification technologies
to identify Osama Bin Laden.
So can you explain how it works?
If you’re familiar with
the TV show “Las Vegas” you undoubtedly have already seen it in application.
Simply explained, you first need an image or video that is then sent to a software
to scan it. The software will detect the position of the eyes to proceed to an
alignment. In function of this alignment, a record of various characteristic
points of the face is performed (nose, shape of the chin and so on). A
geometric design is then saved and will serve as a base on which the researches
will be performed.
So, are there any commercial usages of this? All the examples so far are military...
Of course. The potential marketing and financial
implications are pretty obvious. An Italian firm that designs mannequins has developed a model called “EyeSee”
which is equipped with facial recognition cameras that record consumer behaviour
and classifies them by age and gender. This will provide a better understanding of
the client and how to efficiently target him. This reminds us of a passage from “Minority
Report”.
Wow! This is quite fantastic....
Indeed it is! We shall leave you with one last piece of trivia. You may think this is pure science fiction but are you planning on going to Brazil for the next World Cup? If yes, be ready to
be recorded by the “Robocop Glasses” that are equipped with a camera capable of
recording 400 images per second and compare them with a numerical database of 13
million photos. So if you were planning on doing something naughty in Rio, think twice!
We hope you enjoyed this week's edition of this blog. Next week, we promise to bring you more action packed and exciting applications of the Video Analytics technology!
And we're back again, and we're here to talk today about Eye Tracking technology. Surprised?
Well, you might think that that level of sophistication is still decades away but the truth is that Samsung is soon releasing the new S4, which can supposedly scroll and do many other fancy things....just by tracking your eyes. And its not just Samsung. LG is close on Samsung's tail and are working on launching LG Optimus G Pro with eye tracking technology as well. Also, Apple is embedding Eye Tracking technology to the next iPhone.
Here are a couple of links if you are interested in learning more.
This video should demonstrate how exciting and innovative this technology is.....
So how did all start?
Bloomberg BusinessWeek has an article which goes into how Eye Tracking evolved. Like many other great inventions such as radioactivity, and vulcanised rubber, Eye Tracking was also the product of an accident. Here's an excerpt from the article:
"In 1999, John Elvesjö, a 21-year-old Swedish engineering student, was
experimenting with an infrared sensor to track movement. He had gotten
the device to follow two tossed krona coins when he turned it around to
look at it—and noticed something surprising. The sensor began following
the movement of his eyes."
If you're interested in reading more, click here to read the full article.
How does Eye Tracking work?
It's quite simple, really. It's based entirely on Video Analytics. What you do is focus a camera on the subject's eye/eyes and using some very clever scientific tools and calculations, for example, you can figure out what the person is looking at and for how long. This is very useful because using this, you can now understand the subject's reactions to external stimuli - which can be used in ingenious ways to develop marketing tools and do psychological analytics.
All this must be very expensive?
When you consider the sophistication of the technology, the variety of applications this has (more on this later) and the implications of understanding human behaviour, the costs actually are not so high. The reason is quite simple. We already have technology that can track items. Think about military applications - remember the Top Gun pilots "locking in" on their targets? The locks work by tracking the targets they are applied to.
Our eyes, in reality, are not much different that any other object and hence, in the same way, can be tracked easily. The technology already exists. It just needs to be enhanced to capture the certain nuances of the human eye, like retinal dilation, etc. So, to sum up, Eye Tracking is comparatively cheaper to develop and implement. It also explains why all the phone manufacturers are doing it, right?
Tell me more about potential applications....
Sure. There are a lot of interesting and innovative applications for this technology but here are just a few examples:
1) Marketing
Using Video Analytics, Marketing specialists can monitor what attracts a customer's attention. How? Simply by using a camera to trace what you're looking at and for how long. In fact, this isn't even fiction any more. Its already be done and we can see the demonstration here:
2) Gaming Industry
Last week we talked about Kinect. But some firms are taking it a step further. Imagine being able to point and shoot in a video game using only your eyes! This is still under developmental stage but already in some cases, you can control your virtual armoury with your eyes - specially in classics like World of Warcraft. Here's an example:
3) Communication
This is one field in which Video Analytics in the form of Eye Tracking could make a huge impact and make life a lot simpler for a lot of unfortunate people. We are talking here about people who have lost their ability to communicate verbally, and/or otherwise incapable of using their limbs to communicate. Eye Tracking can step in here and allow these people to communicate in ways which was not thinkable even until a few years ago. Here's an example of how this technology was used by students at the University of Rochester to help people with the Locked-In system to communicate with the world again:
Here are just three examples, and there are many more applications that this could be applied to. In fact, we haven't even covered military usage, security enhancement and more commercial usages like replacing your TV remote, etc. However, we hope this snapshot convinces you of the huge potential that this technology has and how it will change the world in which we live in in the years to come.
You've got me hooked. What next?
Next week, we intend to bring you more Video Analytics awesomeness. Do return next week to find out more applications and usages that we will present to you then!
Actually, no. Not next week. Next week, we are off for Semana Santa. For those that aren't accustomed to Spanish holidays, its a week off we have here in Spain to celebrate Easter (or just to unwind and take a breath from the hectic pace of MBA life). But do come back in two weeks' time to check on us again!
So, as promised, we are back again. A quick recap of last week's post before we dive into this week's exciting update. Last week we spoke about what Video Analytics is, how it works and some usages it can be applied to. If you didn’t read it, we recommend you spend 2 mins looking at the last post. In summary, Video Analytics is the usage of software to analyze video footage, and then applying this to many interesting areas!
Right, so what do you have for us this week then?
This week we shall look at the application of Video Analytics in the Gaming industry. Take a quick look at your Wii, or XBOX for example. You've been using it all the time, even though you might not have realised it. We hope this post captures your interest, demonstrates the awesome potential of this technology and gets you hooked to this blog!
We super geeks of the Majo Club have been playing games for a very long time now. From the Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES, to Goldeneye on the N64, and now Call of Duty on the Xbox 360; you name it, we've played it. However a new “revolution” started a few years ago, initially with the Nintendo Wii (2006), and now with the Xbox Kinect (2010). These consoles/additions/plug-ins use motion sensor devices to detect movement from the player or controller. So you might wonder how it works?
The Wii, and also the Kinect, detects player’s movements via a camera and with the help of clever software, analyses these movements, and translates them into inputs for the game/platform you are playing on. This is bread and butter Video Analytics and might help you imagine the plethora of other applications that this simple, yet sophisticated, technology could be applied to.
Sounds fancy. Did it work at all?
"Guinness World Records has officially named Kinect the fastest selling
consumer electronics device. The peripheral sold an average of 133,333
units per day - a total of 8 million units - in its first 60 days on
shelves, between 4 November 2010 and 3 January 2011." - http://www.computerandvideogames.com
So, in short, yes. Movies from the 90s and 2000s might show virtual reality as the future of video gaming. The Kinects and the Wiis have so far proved otherwise and shown that they have a firm grip on the gaming market and the future direction of gaming looks set to be headed this way. The Video Analytics way.
I'm still a bit sceptical. Any drawbacks?
Other than putting the good old PC gaming industry out of business, and sending some of the major games developers like EA Sports and Activision back to the blackboard - none.
Well, except maybe one. Even though Video Anlaytics seems to have a firm grip on the future of the industry, consumers seem to be having a harder "grip" while playing these games. This video can help demonstrate what we mean....
Well, this is really funny and exciting! Tell me more....
We are out of space and out of time for this week, but next week we promise to bring you another exciting application that shows the wonders of this technology. Till then, you can browse this link for some more serious usages of the technology....
Thursday 7 March 2013
Video Analytics? You’re talking about TV umpires, right?
Well, sort of. And a little bit more. Video Analytics is one of the most innovative emerging technologies
out there today. It holds a lot of promise for a variety of applications, and
over the next few weeks we will take deep dives into a few of them. For now,
let us take you through a brief overview of what it is, what it does and what
it promises.
OK, so tell me what it is…
Firstly, it is important to understand that the “video” we
are talking about here is not the video of your 3rd birthday, or the
video of your prom dance. We are talking more about live camera feeds, etc.
Think CCTV and you’ll get what we mean. Or even think Live TV – the sort of
feeds that TV umpires watch.
When you are looking at a video, you are identifying
patterns or you are trying to detect behaviour or you are trying to analyse
throughputs (or you are a veteran procrastinator). The idea behind Video
Analytics is that this video or stream can be analysed for the above reasons
using clever algorithms and programs rather than me and you (or a poor
policewoman in the London tube) having to sit and monitor all of it. Excited
yet?
Getting there. So what does it actually do….
A video or a stream is nothing more than a collection of
images. Lots and lots of images. By writing some very clever code, and
understanding the behaviour patterns and how to map them onto the video, we can
analyse a whole host of things. We can see if someone has parked his or her car
correctly. Or we can see if the face we are looking for is boarding any of the
planes leaving the airport. Or we can also play games. You know about Kinect,
right? That’s also Video Analytics as we will see in a few weeks.
Bravo! So, what else can it do?
For that, you must return to our blog next week. We will try
to share a variety of applications that Video Analytics could be used for. It’s
really ground breaking and exciting stuff. If we haven’t got you hooked in the
next few weeks, then…well, then we’ll keep trying.
Wait, wait, wait…. I didn’t get who you were?
Ah! Nearly forgot. We are the Majo Pundits – six very
talented, international and technology-focussed budding managers currently pursuing their MBA
at IE Business School. We are Catalina Tejero, Hasan Sadigli, Kyle Fraser, Marcelo M. Fonseca, Pierre Landolt and Ushinor Dey. As part of our Technology and Innovation Management
course, we are researching this topic under the guidance of Professor Gregory
Truman and we want to keep you updated and posted on our work.
We know that you can’t wait till next week, but till then,
we’ll leave you with this little video that should get your adrenaline pumping:
