中国正在研发一种可以通过个人的体型和走路姿势来识别个人的系统

System Recognizes People From Body Shape, Walking Movements

China is developing a system that recognizes individuals by their body shape and walking movements.

Systems that recognize human faces are already being used to identify people in crowds or as a secure way to unlock personal devices.

The new system, known as “gait recognition,” is already being used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai. The Chinese technology company Watrix developed the system. The company announced last month that it had raised $14.5 million to speed up the development and sale of the technology.

The system works in a similar way to face recognition. Cameras capture video of people in public places. Then, machines powered by artificial intelligence (AI) examine and study the video.

Facial recognition systems identify the shapes and expressions on a person’s face to identify them. Gait recognition uses a person’s body shape and their way of walking to identify them. The system records a person’s shape and movements and then creates a model of the way they walk.

Huang Yongzhen is a former researcher who co-founded Watrix in 2016. He told the Associated Press his system can identify people from up to 50 meters away. It is designed to work even when a person’s face is covered or hidden. Successful facial recognition usually requires clear, close-up images of a person’s face.

Currently, the Watrix system is not able to identify people in real-time. Users have to enter video into the system, which then takes about 10 minutes to process each hour of video.

Huang says his gait recognition system is correct 94 percent of the time. This is below the success rate of many face recognition systems. But he says the system can still be helpful to police and for other commercial purposes. He also believes the system can be effective when used together with face recognition.

“You don’t need people’s cooperation for us to be able to recognize their identity,” Huang told the AP. “People still don’t recognize they can be recognized by their gait, whereas everybody knows you can be recognized by your face,” he added.

He said the system would not easily be misled by a person changing their usual way of walking or other body movements. This is because the AI system is designed to examine all movements over the entire body. “We believe you are totally unique in the way you walk,” Huang said.

Gait recognition is not new. The technology has been researched by scientists in Japan and Britain and by U.S. defense¹ officials for about 10 years. But attempts to sell the technology have been slow.

One of the reasons the technology has not developed further is because the systems are more complex than facial recognition.

Mark Nixon is a leading expert on gait recognition at Britain’s University of Southampton. He told the AP the technology requires bigger computers. “Because you need a sequence of images rather than a single image,” he said.

Security officials in China’s far-western province of Xinjiang have reportedly expressed interest in the system. Muslim ethnic² minorities in the province are already subject to intense government surveillance and control.

Shi Shusi is a Chinese writer and commentator³. He told the AP he is not surprised that the technology would launch in China before the rest of the world. He said this is because of the Chinese government’s use of social control methods.

“Using biometric recognition to maintain social stability and manage society is an unstoppable trend,” Shi said. He added: “It’s great business.”

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

gait – n. the way a person walks and moves the body

artificial intelligence – n. ability of a machine to use and analyze⁴ data in an attempt to reproduce human behavior

commercial – adj. related to buying and selling things

sequence – n. a series of related things

biometric – adj. involving the application of statistical⁵ analysis to biological data

stability – n. the quality of not being likely to change or move

trend – n. a way of behaving, proceeding⁶, etc., that is developing and becoming more common

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

6 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。