Artificial intelligence can detect coronavirus patients early by gauging body temperatures⁠ — here’s how

• Firetinas has already been deployed in schools and hospitals in China.
  
• It uses artificial intelligence to scan faces and detect early signs of coronavirus infection.
  
• It can track up to 100 people within an area of 1,000 square feet in half-a-microsecond.
  
• It can also negate hotspots like someone lighting a cigarette to detect human temperature accurate to 0.1 degrees Celcius.

A cure for the coronavirus is yet to present itself but scientists at the University of Michigan and the University have Cambridge have a new weapon to keep the threat at bay — Firetinas. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Firetinas can inspect multiple individuals with high body temperatures.

It’s the latest addition to the arsenal against coronavirus. AI-enabled technology being used to fend off the outbreak, being employed at multiple Chinese hospitals and schools to detect high body temperatures early. So far, catching the symptoms early has shown be an effective way to stop the infection.

Firetinas can track up to 100 people within an area of 1,000 square feet in half-a-microsecond. It uses a combination of integrated cameras, temperature sensors, microcomputers, neural network system and two black bodies to deliver its analysis.

How does Firetinas use AI to fight the coronavirus?

Firetinas is a high performance integrated circuit capable of neural processing. The cameras and sensors scan individuals to collect temperature information. Using a dynamic calibration algorithm, the system is able to discern temperature accurate to 0.1 degrees Celsius.

Its facial recognition capabilities are able to negate the effects of hotspots, like someone lighting up a cigarette, to accurately detect the temperature of a human face. And it can reportedly be optimised to be as accurate as 99%.

That means people without maks, who may be infected, can be identified and quarantined before the infection spreads to others. The data is then relayed back to the server, making it easier to trace the individual and trace them through a crowd. Its neural processing unit (NPU) is capable of running 3 trillion analysis every second on the 100 individuals that it’s tracking.


Firetinas is only the latest AI-enabled weapon that scientists are using in their fight against coronavirus. Infervision is being used in Chinese hospitals to scan patients’ lungs to look for signs of the Covid-19 virus.

Many companies are also using AI-powered solutions to speed up drug discovery platforms in search of a cure.

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