Toppan AI System Gives People Recognition Capabilities to Robots

Technology company Toppan has added person recognition capabilities to its existing TransBots digital twin solution. TransBots links physical spaces with virtual reality reconstructions in real time and centrally manages and controls multiple types of service robots. TransBots operators can use a multifunction console to configure courses for robots’ movement in a virtual space. Robots in the real space then move in accordance with the courses to arrive safely at their preset destinations.

The new function of TransBots enables AI-driven person recognition across multiple robots. Courtesy of Toppan.

Now, as a new function, Toppan developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that makes it possible for multiple moving robots to identify people whose images have been uploaded in advance. The feature was verified via a pilot test in which images sent from robots in various locations within an event space were analyzed and compiled in the cloud using an AI engine. Toppan said that it was possible to identify specific people from camera images sent by various types of robots and to perform cloud-based confirmation. The test also demonstrated that people’s locations could be pinpointed by using the positions of the robots on TransBots.

Toppan specializes in communication, security, packaging, décor materials, and electronics solutions, and said that the technology is expected to have a variety of applications, including remote management of hospitals and complexes and management of large-scale events with restricted entry, such as exhibitions and concerts. In addition to telepresence robots, TransBots can also be applied for a wide range of service robots, such as robot carriers and mobile picking robots.