Imagine walking into a store that you frequent regularly and immediately upon entering, a sales person has items that suit your particular taste, size or budget preferences. Or entering a hotel and having the front desk clerk knows precisely your room preference without even having to ask. It’s as if the minute you show your face, the business knows how to customize the experience for you.
Having a camera or computer that can recognize a person is no longer the stuff of James Bond of Mission Impossible spy films. Indeed, despite having its roots in intelligence agency research first conducted in the 1960s, facial recognition systems are becoming mainstream.
Thanks to better performing technology and lower prices of camera-enabled systems, market analysts are predicting an average annual growth rate of 25% for the facial recognition market. By 2020, the market will be worth 6.18 billion U.S. dollars, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets.
That’s good news for anyone who can use the efficiency and security a facial recognition system can bring to any type of environment – and not just for super high security applications.
Sure. Facial recognition has proven very effective in security critical environments, such as airports, border control areas, and high-security access control situations. In these types of installations, fast and accurate recognition of known criminals, illegal aliens, or people with elevated access privileges makes life easier and safer for those responsible for controlling those areas.
But significant improvements in facial recognition technology – and costs – are making this capability attractive for a much broader range of industries and applications beyond security.
