August 8, 2022

A Technology to Identify People by the Way They Walk

Fujitsu has developed a technology that can identify people based on video images of how they walk. Even if the images are in different states, they can be matched with high accuracy by focusing on the location of the joints. The goal is to put the system into practical use by the fiscal year 2023 by promoting verification so that it can be used to search for children and elderly people who have lost their way and are unable to return home.

Fujitsu's existing artificial intelligence (AI) technology is used to extract the position of a person's joints and their movements. To solve the problem that the accuracy of analysis varies depending on the state of the video, such as where in the video the person to be analyzed appears, the data is converted into a form that can be analyzed in a generic manner. It reveals the characteristics of an individual's walking style. One-second video of a straight walk is enough to be analyzed.

When searching for a lost person, characteristics are determined based on videos taken in advance with smartphones and other devices, as well as the subject's appearance on surveillance cameras. Camera images installed in commercial facilities and train stations around the lost location are analyzed and matched to follow the subject's steps. The new technology has improved accuracy from less than 50% with conventional technology to approximately 90% with the new technology.

The search for a lost person will be made more efficient by allowing the system to automatically locate the subject in the video. It will proceed with demonstrations for practical use.