Horizon Robotics’ smart security camera uses A.I. for serious facial recognition

The smart cameras of 2018 are getting smarter still. Startup Horizon Robotics has debuted a new HD smart camera that boasts serious artificial intelligence capabilities and can identify faces with an accuracy of up to 99.7 percent, the company claims. That’s probably better than most humans. The company claims the new HR-IPC2143 smart camera is the “first of its kind with applications in public security for the real-time detection of potential suspects. In less ominous applications, it can identify important customers.

“The smart camera is a reflection of Horizon Robotics’ mission — to provide high-performance, low-power, and low-cost products utilizing cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology,” said Dr. Kai Yu, CEO and founder of Horizon Robotics. “Other companies can only deliver a portion of the equation, but we are able to integrate all these form factors to create a complete business solution rather than just a stand-alone camera.”

The HR-IPC2143 leverages recognition capabilities alongside its local capture to give users facial capture, feature extraction, and facial feature comparison based on deep-learning algorithms. By using an “algorithm + chip + cloud” system architecture, this camera can quickly turn raw video data into actionable insights, with multi-target location detection, multi-target tracking, multi-target recognition, and pedestrian attribute classification. Thanks to its 50,000 feature library, the camera is able to support high-performance facial recognition, as well as process videos at 1920x1080p at 30 frames per second in real time. It also allows the camera to detect, track, and identify up to 200 objects simultaneously, all in a single frame.

The HR-IPC2143 has some pretty impressive surveillance chops, as it can recognize faces even in crowded environments, like packed hallways, entries and exits, and large events. Or, if a store owner wants to identify VIP shoppers as they enter the premises to ensure that they receive special treatment, the smart camera can be leveraged in this way as well.

Key to the camera’s success is the “Sunrise” embedded A.I. computer vision processor, which boasts the Brain Processing Unit (BPU) architecture. This proprietary A.I. processor architecture claims to combine A.I. algorithms with hardware design, and allows the relatively small camera to still perform at its peak. “Compared with previous smart cameras, the ability to capture and identify images simultaneously is a major breakthrough in the field of embedded A.I. in security and commercial applications,” Horizon Robotics noted in a release.