New Feature: Pepper Mask Detection

Mask checking is an important feature for business owners as new protocols are in place all around Europe that declares it mandatory that people wear masks in closed spaces. It can lead to fines to those who do not follow the protocol. That’s why in our efforts to aid the fight against COVID-19 and to help our partners and clients comply with these protocols in place, the SoftBank Robotics EMEA team is proud to announce that we have developed and released a mask detection feature for our robot Pepper.
 

Thanks to its cameras, Pepper can now scan the faces of up to 5 people in a group, simultaneously,  in order to check if they are wearing a mask. During the interaction, Pepper displays a green or red circle around the face on its tablet depending on whether the person is wearing a mask or not. Partners and developers can add other features such as voice interaction or analytics to count the percentage of visitors wearing masks. The AI ​​algorithm based on OpenCV can achieve a high score even on masks with complex patterns.

Click here to access the Mask Detection Library on Github.

This Android library will help you detect people wearing face masks or not with Pepper. It is based on AIZoo's FaceMaskDetection, and uses the same model, running on Pepper’s tablet, using OpenCV. This can be used to make Pepper give a personalised welcome to human depending on whether they are wearing a mask or not.

User Privacy:
At SoftBank Robotics, we are committed to protecting the privacy of end-users. This application handles images of user's faces, however, it does not store them or send them to any external server. The mask checking application does not require an internet connection. We communicate with our partners to make sure their usage and deployments comply with local regulations, such as the GDPR in Europe.