Computer vision activity monitoring startup Zensors has announced that it will be offering its platform for free to certain entities to help them take measures against the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Founded two years ago from a team out of Carnegie Mellon University, Zensors was among the earliest adopters of computer vision in the extraction of valuable data from things like security camera feeds, allowing people to track things like the number of open tables in a restaurant or café.

Zensors has developed a suit of tools specifically designed for businesses like airports, offices and retail environments that can count open seats, estimate lines and identify trash that needs to be picked up.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now affecting these same types of businesses across the world, and with health officials urging the public to practice physical and social distancing, this sort of data can be vital in helping to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Software that can count the number of people in a line can be adapted without much effort to calculate the distances between people in a given space and send out an alert if protocols are being violated.

As TechCrunch reports, Zensors co-founder Anuraag Jain said that the company had received a number of inquiries about applying its tech to suit public health considerations.

“Rather than profiting off them, we thought we would give our help for free,” said Jain, noting that for the foreseeable future “selected entities who are on the forefront of responding to this crisis, including our airport clients,” would not pay for their services.

Zensors’ platform has already been adapted to answer COVID-19-specific questions like how many in a group of people are wearing face masks, when a surface was last cleaned, and how many people are in a given area.

Source: TechCrunch