Q: Could you please tell us a bit about Irida Labs?
A: Irida Labs is an embedded AI software leader, with more than 10 years of experience in Computer Vision and AI at the Edge. Powered by a strong team of over 25 engineers, our work enables companies around the world to deploy scalable, vision-based solutions to monitor and streamline a range of processes in different verticals, from automation of goods tracking in logistics to monitoring of production processes in manufacturing and health & safety monitoring in any work setting.
Q: Can you provide some background information about your flagship offering, PerCV.ai. What is the solution and how does it work?
A: PerCV.ai enables the end-to-end deployment of application-specific AI solutions that run at the edge, which means very near or even inside the cameras, with no server or cloud involved. It can be applied to many different vertical markets and use cases, but specifically for the industrial market it allows logistics companies and manufacturers to monitor their operations far more comprehensively and accurately, with no need to manually review video footage. To do this, it analyzes the camera stream in real time and creates analytics, along with point-in-time 'snapshots' of events that matter, such as a pallet or vehicle moving to a different location within a warehouse. These combined metadata can then be cross-referenced with data from existing systems, such QR readers or RFID readers, to create a comprehensive, accurate, and current view of processes, shipments, orders, and inventory.
Q: What are the top benefits of PerCV.ai for customers?
A: Our PerCV.ai-powered solutions open a whole new world of business insights and analytics. For the manufacturing or logistics industry, the top benefit is the ability to monitor processes and goods without manual effort, which significantly increases efficiency, reducing overall operating costs. In addition, the solution helps to ensure that goods are tracked through the supply chain from end to end, enabling unprecedented control over each step of the process. It can also be used to improve health & safety compliance with automated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) monitoring – all in a fully automated way. New use cases for the technology are emerging all the time.
Q: PerCV.ai uses 'edge processing'. Why is that so good for customers?
A: Doing AI at the edge provides great cost and efficiency benefits. With all the AI analytics carried out in the camera itself, there is no need for centralized servers or expensive cloud resources. The fact that video streams are not transmitted means low bandwidth requirements and network costs, and the fact that out of thousands or hours of 24/7 footage only a few kb of useful metadata are kept supports >95% data storage compression rates. Also, the business data never leave the premises, and the video streams are not stored and cannot be retrieved, which results in better data privacy and safety.
Q: You use Hikvision cameras for the PerCV.ai solution – why is that?
A: The Hikvision cameras are a perfect fit for a number of reasons. Most importantly, they offer a dedicated onboard processor for AI applications. This feature makes embedded optimization for our software far easier, saving both time and development costs, with no need for extra, third-party integrations. These cameras also give us all the computing and storage resources we need to deliver real-world, premium AI solutions to our customers.
Q: Was it easy to embed the PerCV.ai solution into the Hikvision cameras?
A: Yes, it was, thanks to Hikvision's HEOP platform. This is a development interface that allows us to deploy our software on the camera, ensuring that all the required processing and storage resources are available. Normally, embedded optimization of AI software into edge devices requires consideration of all kinds of parameters from the speed of the processor to the memory footprint. With HEOP, the requirements and limitations are much more transparent, which makes the integration process faster and easier.
Q: How is Hikvision helping you to achieve your business and technology goals?
A: For AI to realize its market potential, it must work in real-world settings. With Hikvision, we have been able to integrate our software with the Hikvision DeepinView AI camera series, and to create just such a solution. It means that the barrier of entry for AI is significantly reduced, which is great news for our customers, and for the industry as a whole.
