Avatar interviews and portable scanners to speed up border crossings

Robo Hub ------ Anastasia Garbi from European Dynamics in Luxembourg is working on a system that uses facial recognition to begin screening people before they leave home. 'You can use what you have at home, a personal computer, without expert or specialized scanners,' Garbi said. The idea is that travelers take pictures of their passport, visa and proof of funds and upload them to website. Then, using a web camera, they answer questions posed to them from a computer-animated avatar border guard for a few minutes. That gives officials a series of facial images they can use to check against stored pictures from a passport or past entries and exits, a comparison that is much more difficult to copy than a fingerprint. 'Even a fingerprint is easy to imitate and cheat,' Garbi said. 'If you have a video capture, and you have some questions along with this, you get pictures of the reactions of the face of the traveler. This is very difficult to copy.' Research like this will help the EU make citizens safer by securing its borders effectively, without causing long queues and discomfort for travelers. To learn more about Avatar interviews and portable scanners to speed up border crossings click on the picture below to read the article.