Dripping air conditioner? Hong Kong hygiene authorities plan to use AI to spot it
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department says success of new night-vision cameras in spotting such nuisances paves way for AI usage
Hong Kong hygiene authorities plan to incorporate artificial intelligence into their third-generation cameras to detect dripping air conditioners after the recent deployment of night-vision devices helped improve their efficiency.
Wan Chi-shun, assistant director of operations at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, said on Thursday that the department spent HK$1.3 million (US$167,000) on developing 38 sets of infrared night-vision cameras, which were deployed from May and used to detect sources of water dripping from high-rise buildings during nighttime.
“Previously, it was difficult to locate the sources of water dripping in the dark. With the devices, officers can quickly locate the source and deal with the case, and then move on to another,” he said.
“They can massively shorten our time needed for collecting evidence. Officers can complete their preliminary inspection from the outside, without having to enter the flats.”
Wan said the department had settled 5,200 cases of dripping air conditioners between May and August 24 with the help of cameras and other inspection and enforcement measures.
The cameras were developed by the Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre under the government’s Innovation and Technology Commission.