Workstation Surface Cleanliness Detection via AI Camera and Color Indicators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cleaning practices in commercial settings lack effective methods to ensure surfaces are clean and safe for customers, particularly in the context of infectious diseases like COVID-19, as visual inspection is inadequate and manual logging is inefficient, leading to potential health risks and compliance issues.
Innovation Solution
A workstation monitoring system that includes cameras and monitoring modules to capture images and video, identifying surface states such as clean, dirty, or occupied, and generating trigger events for cleaning, combined with adhesive-backed stickers and electronic buttons that change color based on cleaning status, and AI camera systems for automated tracking and compliance reporting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If visual inspection is used to determine surface cleanliness, then customers can quickly assess surface status, but the assessment is inadequate and unreliable for detecting actual cleanliness
Solution Approach 1:
A camera system acts as an intermediary between the surface and the customer's visual assessment. The camera captures images of the surface, and image processing algorithms analyze these images to determine cleanliness status, providing a more accurate measurement than direct visual inspection while maintaining ease of use through a user interface that displays cleanliness results.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection with an automated optical system. Instead of relying on human eyes and judgment, the system uses cameras to capture surface images and computational algorithms to assess cleanliness, substituting mechanical/optical measurement with human sensory evaluation.
2Productivity
If manual cleaning logs are maintained to track cleaning activities, then cleaning records can be kept, but the process is inefficient and prone to errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic self-documentation of cleaning activities. When the image analysis determines that a surface has been cleaned, the system automatically updates the cleaning logs and records with the relevant information, eliminating the need for manual logging and reducing errors associated with manual record-keeping.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides automated feedback loops where image analysis results directly trigger logging actions. The cleanliness assessment feeds back into the cleaning management system, automatically updating records and providing real-time information about cleaning status without requiring manual intervention.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cleaning schedules are set at fixed intervals, then cleaning can be performed regularly, but cleaning may occur unnecessarily or be delayed when actually needed
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning schedule transitions from a static, predetermined interval-based system to a dynamic, condition-based system. The system continuously monitors surface images and adjusts cleaning timing based on actual cleanliness conditions, allowing cleaning to be performed adaptively - sooner when needed and later when not needed, optimizing both flexibility and time efficiency.
4Loss of information
If no automated monitoring system is used, then the system is simple, but there is no real-time visibility into surface cleanliness status
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system serves as an intermediary that captures and transmits information about surface cleanliness. By placing cameras at strategic locations and using image processing, the system provides real-time visibility into cleanliness status without requiring complex manual inspection procedures, balancing information availability with system simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
Discloses is a workstation monitoring system. The system can include a camera configured to capture images and/or video of a workstation. The system can include a monitoring module configured to: receive images and/or video from the camera; identify a surface and a state for the surface, the state including any one or combination of occupied, vacant, clean, dirty, contaminated, attended to, or not attended to; track behavior of an individual, movement of an object, and/or an occurrence for the surface that causes a change in the surface's state; and generate a trigger event signal based on the change in the surface's state.