By KAZUHITO SUWA/ Staff Writer
September 6, 2023 at 07:00 JST
Thermal imaging data from an AI system shows the first and third individuals from the left are “sitting,” the second and fourth individuals are “standing” while the fifth person is “sleeping.” (Provided by Osaka Kyoiku University professor Fumio Nakaya)
KASHIWARA, Osaka Prefecture--A university here has developed an artificial intelligence-based system that can detect inattentive students while helping teachers develop more effective classroom skills.
Osaka Kyoiku University collaborated with Higashi-Osaka-based Kansai Denki Kogyo Co. to produce the system that uses thermal imaging to show if students leave their seats or are dozing off during lessons.
Kansai Denki Kogyo manufactures photovoltaic generation equipment and has expertise in thermography and image-recognition technology using AI.
“The system is intended to ‘visualize’ what children are doing, not to monitor them, and help teachers improve their teaching skills,” said Kazuki Niwayama, an associate professor at the university.
By comparing children’s behavior with data on how they are being taught, the system can, for example, encourage teachers to compliment students more frequently, provide more simple explanations, and devise other ways to deepen understanding, the project team said.
The team, led by Fumio Nakaya, a professor at the university’s Center for Education Innovation Design, compiled a multitude of images of people sitting, standing, dozing off and engaging in other activities.
When the team fed the images in the AI system for use in a classroom, its analysis matched the actual behaviors exhibited by students with an accuracy of more than 90 percent, the team said.
It is impossible to identify individuals through thermal images, which are different from regular camera footage, and leaks of classroom thermal images to the outside should cause no problems in terms of privacy, the team said.
Because the system is based on body temperatures, it can be used with any background and in poor lighting conditions.
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