Facial recognition technologyhas been
tested in convenience stores to help stop children buying alcohol
and cigarettes.
The system has been developed for use in convenience stores at
the point of sale to capture facial measurements that will be
checked against a database of profiles of known offenders.
The system, which has been tested for several months in a
Budgens store in London, will alert point of sales if a match is
found that the person they are serving is under-age.
The technology is a joint project by facial recognition company
OmniPerception and software company Charton that has adapted
existing technology to enable convenience stores to help curb
under-age drinking and smoking.
It combines OmniPerception's Affinity facial Recognition
technology and Charton's point-of-sale software.
David McIntosh, chief executive of OmniPerception, said it will
help convenience store owners demonstrate they take a responsible
attitude towards serving underage children.
Charlie Willetts, managing director of Charton, said "Until now,
combining the many technologies has been virtually impossible, but
we have jointly come up with a way of automatically reviewing
moving clips that are constantly changing and are now able to use
this as part of a bespoke facial recognition system."
Following the pilot testing at Budgens, the developers of the
technology are aiming to supply the system to convenience stores
throughout the country.
The project, called AgeWatch, comes at a time when the industry
is under pressure from the government to clamp down on underage
sales.
Prime minister, Gordon Brown, has warned shops that they could
have their licences withdrawn as a consequence.
According to figures by the Institute of Alcohol Studies, 10% of
drinkers aged 12 to 15 admitted buying their own alcohol in shops,
which rose to 63% among those aged 16 to 17.