Non-intrusive facial analysis for age estimation and access control
Our biometric range can benefit a vast number of industries. Customise facial recognition and age verification
functions to fit your application
Age Restricted Sales
Recommended Product: MyCheckr or ICU Lite
Improve efficiency and free up checkout attendants with our leading age verification technology.
Access Control
Recommended Product: ICU Pro
Digital Advertising
Recommended Product: MyCheckr or ICU Lite
Do you want to target your advertising to specific demographics?
Photo ID Verification
Recommended Product: ICU Lite
Combine ICU Lite with an existing document scanner or RFID reader.
Our core objective - to provide affordable and easy to use biometric technology
Proprietary Algorithms
We use our own algorithms to recognise faces and verify age. We do not use publicly available databases for training or tuning like many other systems, favouring our own extensive datasets especially chosen to reduce gender and skin tone bias. Our algorithms are not publicly available, which makes our system, and customer data more secure.
In the case of age estimation for example the model is trained using millions of images of faces with known ages. The algorithm analyses the features of the person and associates that with the known age. In doing so, the algorithm essentially learns what feature a subject typically has for a certain age. So, when a new image is presented, the algorithm analyses the features, and from what it has learnt, estimates an age based on what age it has associated with those features.
Edge Solution
Our edge solution gives customers an immediate response. Both age verification and facial recognition technology processes are performed locally giving a more reliable output and faster response.
An internet connection is only required for initial set up and updates which are free for the first 12 months.
Unique Fraud Detection
Our range of biometric products, for age estimation and access control, uses single-image passive liveness detection. We have built, trained and tuned our own neural networks using an extensive data sample containing millions of images, to create an in-house, bespoke Presentation Attack Detection technique.
Using multiple parameters to analyse the full scene, we can determine a genuine subject. The same frame used for facial matching is also used for liveness checking, resulting in minimal processing. By not having a separate dedicated method for spoof, fraudsters have no information on how to fool the system, making it more secure. We have included anti-spoof technology as standard across the biometrics range. Many organisations use a third party to supply their spoof detection technology, for an additional fee, but our products have this included at no extra cost.
Innovative Technology have a Primary Authority Partnership with Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards with regards to the use of their age estimation technology for retailers selling age restricted goods.
What is Primary Authority?
Primary Authority is a statutory scheme, established by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008. It allows an eligible business to form a legally recognised partnership with a single local authority in relation to regulatory compliance. This local authority is then known as its ‘primary authority’.
What this means to us as a business?
The Primary Authority Partnership allows businesses to receive assured and tailored advice in meeting regulations with local authorities. It provides an additional layer of reassurance and confidence to customers that our products meet legal requirements supported by guidance from Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards.
What this means in practice for our customers
Consumers can trust that our age estimation technology, if implemented appropriately into an age verification policy, and used in accordance with the guidance, is a compliant visual aid which ensures that the sale of age-restricted goods will not be made to persons under the age of 18. It is the view of Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards that such a system will help our customers demonstrate compliance.
Our Frequently Asked Questions
Edge technology refers to alogrithms which run locally on specially designed hardware. The processing is done on the local hardware and not on a cloud based platform.
This has many advantages, among them are:
1) Speed – no data is sent over the internet to get processed. All the processing is done on the local hardware.
2) No Internet required – since all processing is performed locally, the edge hardware can operate completely off-line.
3) Security – since no sensitive data is sent over the Internet there is no chance that this data can be intercepted
There are many advantages to using our own algorithm. This covers both performance and security aspects.
When building our own algorithm we can ensure the algorithm is optimised to run on our own bespoke hardware (edge solution).
Using our own algorithm also means we have the opportunity to find weaknesses and improve performance. This may be acquiring better training data, employing different models or tuning the algorithm more effectively.
When algorithms are publicly available (open source) then they also become a security risk, as people can access the algorithms and probe for weaknesses, which they may then use to exploit your system.
We have built, trained and tuned our own age estimation algorithms using our own training datasets.
Combining a multi-layer intelligence approach with a wide and diverse range of training data results in world leading age estimation. Our age estimation range has obtained independent certification (ACCS 1:2020 Technical Requirements for Age Estimation Technologies) that confirms that our products can be confidently deployed in a Challenge 25 scenario.
The independent test results show that our products, on average underestimates 18-year-olds by 0.19 years and has an MAE (Mean Absolute Error) of 1.22 years.
While the performance is directly related to the specific camera in general:
• It is recommended to operate with Light levels from 70 lux (low level sodium bulb) to 1500 lux (bright LED gantry).
• The ICU will work in sunlight (>1500lux) if the camera is positioned to avoid direct glare.
The performance of our products is related to the quality of the image provided. A live view of the image can be viewed to ensure maximum quality for setup.
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