Technology Partnership will Lead to Secure Home Security and Control Systems Based on Understanding Human Behaviour in Real-Time via ART Technology
LONDON and FREMONT, California, July 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Apical Ltd., a developer of advanced embedded imaging and computer vision technology, and Tend, the leading Vision-as-a-Service (VaaS) platform for the connected home ecosystem, today announced that Tend's latest service incorporates Smart Detection powered by Apical's ART system. This technology partnership will enable smart homes to integrate unprecedented people detection capabilities into their security systems.
ART is based on Apical's advanced computer vision technology which will decipher the visual scene without the need of video and uses sophisticated visual sensing to create digital avatars of individuals. When integrated as part of a video-enabled, connected home system, ART provides accurate people detection services that recognize physical human attributes and movements. These characteristics are then combined into an understanding of individuals' behaviours and can be used to trigger events.
The current implementation of ART focused on home security enables Tend to solve a major pain point in cloud camera services: the unacceptable high rate of false alarms by conventional motion-sensing IP cameras, the result of which is that homeowners are notified by events such as lighting changes, leaves on trees, passing cars and pets. Prior attempts at distinguishing people-based events from erroneous detections have failed due to the complexity of detecting people accurately in real environments.
Tend's deployment of ART in its new Smart Detection offering represents increasingly sophisticated user experiences in home security, but will also impact energy management and wellness services based on intelligent devices around and within the connected home. By identifying and understanding human behaviour in the home, ART will have the ability to, for example, determine how many people are there and what they are doing within a room or in the case of the elderly, if they have fallen. "Our partnership with Apical for the first time enables us to provide a reliable, cost-effective cloud camera service which leads the market in terms of camera intelligence," said Herman Yau, co-founder and CEO of Tend. "Apical's ART which has enabled our Smart Detection feature will usher in the next wave of innovation in the connected home space, and we look forward to the new possibilities our partnership will create for future services we offer."
"We believe people and their behaviours are the basis for any home automation or security solution and our ART service and core technology truly puts the 'smart' in smart home," said Michael Tusch, CEO of Apical. "We are pleased to partner with the forward-thinking team at Tend to put people at the heart of their connected environments and are excited about our collaboration."
The first Tend products and services powered by Apical ART are launched today.
ART is a registered trademark of Apical Ltd.
About Apical Ltd.
Apical is the leader in advanced imaging and video processing technology. The company's products are derived from original research into the human visual system and are designed to maximize the performance of a wide range of image capture and display devices. Apical works primarily with semiconductor manufacturers, for whom imaging capture and display are critical components and also OEMs and service providers in the connected home sector. Apical is a privately-held company based in the UK. For more information, visit www.apical.co.uk.
About Tend
Tend is the world's leading Vision-as-a-Service (VaaS) platform for the connected home ecosystem. Committed to making vision more accessible, Tend delivers vision analytics, live video streaming, and cloud recording services to help connected home companies bring innovation into their products. Tend powers many of the world's vision-centric products from major connected home companies. With over 500,000 users on the VaaS platform, Tend supports one of the largest installed bases in vision for the Internet of Things. Tend is a member of the Embedded Vision Alliance. For more information, visit www.tendinsights.com.
