Vehicle tech startup Adasky have found a way to adapt their technology to help in the fight against the coronavirus: their thermal-imaging cameras can be put to work measuring multiple body temperatures quickly and simultaneously.
In regular times, Adasky develop thermal-imaging camera technology for ADAS and AV. But two weeks ago, company leaders and software engineers met to see how they could help in the war effort. They put together prototype systems centred on their camera technology’s ability to measure heat. Instead of detecting objects on a road, they’ve turned it to measuring the precise body temperature of numerous persons at a time. Could be prospective buyers at a car dealership, would-be grocery shoppers or transit riders, could be sports fans—anyone in public places.
The company is deploying cameras for temperature-taking applications in multiple Israeli hospitals. Those field tests will serve as an important validation tool, though internal testing has revealed accuracy down to 0.01°. Of course, the cameras cannot discern whether a person has the coronavirus; what they do is spot elevated body temperature, which is one consistent symptom.
The camera is the same one used in automotive to detect pedestrians. What’s changed is the software. Normally it detects heat at ranges needed for automotive applications, but the camera was tweaked to work at short ranges and focus on taking temperatures from a specific body part, typically the head. The cameras can work passively from long distance, and they can gather temperature information simultaneously on anyone in their field of view, avoiding the need for queues of people waiting to be scanned. At mass scale, Adasky say the cameras could perhaps cost less than $100 each.