Indore, Feb 4 (PTI) A couple of professors of an engineering college in Indore in Madhya Pradesh have claimed to have made a device that can detect people moving about without wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The 'mask detector' was developed by Associate Professor Puja Gupta and Assistant Professor Upendra Singh of the Information Technology department of Shri GS Institute of Technology and Sciences (SGSITS), a government aided autonomous institute.

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“The mask detector works with the help of a CCTV camera. We have developed a software after detailed research to immediately identify those who are not wearing masks the moment they pass through the camera. A 'please wear mask' message will be blared and their images are captured in the camera associated with the system,” Gupta told PTI on Friday.

Gupta said the cost of developing the device has been Rs 20,000, which would come down to around Rs 4,000 if produced on a large-scale, adding that the authorities here and in other places can use it to impose fines on those violating mask norms in public places.

Gupta said the instrument has given 98.26 per cent accurate results while examining 75,000 photos.

SGSITS Director Rakesh Sharma said the local administration has asked that the instrument be installed in one of the IT parks here, and depending on the results, more spots would be taken up for deployment.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)