Infrared Drowning Detection System To Be Installed At 11 Public Swimming Pools In Singapore

By April 2020, a total of 11 public pools in Singapore will feature a state-of-the-art computer vision drowning detection system (CVDDS). The CVDDS uses a network of overhead infrared cameras to detect if anyone in the pool becomes unconscious while swimming. It reportedly has a detect response time of 15 seconds, allowing lifeguards to spot distressed swimmers more quickly.

"[T]he system will be installed at pools in Bukit Batok, Jurong West and Our Tampines Hub this year, with another seven to follow by April 2020," reports Channel NewsAsia. "The system will be implemented following a successful year-long trial at Hougang Swimming Complex. MCCY said that the system was assessed to have complied with international standards and had a low false-alarm rate."

Better late than never

[nospam007]

In Europe public pools have been forced to install these years ago.

Re:

[jellomizer]

Are you proposing some sort of higher intelligence? Then in that case we can assume that it gave us enough intelligence to solve our own problems. If not then we should do whatever we want because there is no intent. Just consequences for our actions.

But a swimming pool filled with water and chemicals designed to kill anything smaller then a cat isn't really natural.

Re:

[rmdingler]

Then go swim in a pool without it. Survival of the fitness

The fittest amoeba? There's a reason pools are treated with sordid chemicals.

Naegleria fowleri [webmd.com]

Re:

[PPH]

Then go swim in a pool without it.

I do. And without lifeguards either (a private club pool). State safety regs exempt private facilities for adults only to do shit about pool safety. The worst part is: We get people who can't swim, who bring 'flotation devices' in so they can bob around in the lap pool in everyone's way. And then some old lady slips and the float slides down around her feet. So she's upside down in the water and can't figure out how to right herself. It sure would be nice if the front desk had a buzzer so they could go in a

Re:

[jellomizer]

So you like swimming in a pool with dead people?

Re:

[ffkom]

While such automatic camera/alarm systems are installed in some pools in Europe, there is no legislation making this a requirement. In Germany, the first two such systems were installed in 2005, so indeed, the technology itself isn't quite new.

Re:

[zmooc]

Nope. Have never encountered them. But then again, I'm in the Netherlands where everybody can swim so only foreigners drown :p

Re:

[thegarbz]

What are you talking about, plenty of dutch people drown ... intoxicated ... after a night drinking Belgian strong ales ... and then falling into a canal.

Re:

[Hognoxious]

I was at a pool in Belgium and a kid got into trouble. They either didn't have this system or it's slower than a human, because no alarm went off but the instructor spotted it in pretty short order and rescued him.

successful year-long trial

[ChoGGi]

I'm curious what that means? Did they fire all the lifeguards, or wait for people to become unconscious?

Re:successful year-long trial

[spire3661]

Its a machine vision system that tracks movement in the water. Stop moving long enough and the computer sees it and triggers the alarm. Its part of an 'overmind' design. Humans become inattentive over time, so we are going to gird up those jobs with 'intelligence'.

Re:

[apoc.famine]

As a kid I would have had a blast fucking with a system like this. I used to love to dive to the bottom of the pool and sit there as long as I could. Freaked out my family more than a few times doing that.

Re:

[dohzer]

Anyone doing apnea training would need some kind of special exemption.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Anyone doing apnea training would need some kind of special exemption.

I'm sure they won't be training when the general public is out and playing in the pool where a lifeguard already has a hard enough time trying to see if there's someone in distress.

They'll either use a private pool, or close the pool at which point they can ask for the system to be disabled because well, there's more oversight.

long term effect

[Euler]

It's a potentially effective tool, but will it encourage complacency? Will lifeguards pay less attention, or pools' management choose to staff less lifeguards? Will parents put less emphasis on water safety? What is the false-negative rate (real events it doesn't detect)? Does the system have an obvious fail-safe indicator if it isn't functioning?

Re:

[JThundley]

Yes, it will encourage complacency. Yes lifeguards will pay less attention. Yes less lifeguards will be staffed. Yes parents will put less emphasis on water safety.
These are good things, and here's why. It's automation done right. Right now, a lifeguard's job is to watch over pools and readily respond to emergencies and render aid. If a computer can do the job of watching the pool much better than we can, the job of a lifeguard can just hang out and be ready to respond to someone drowning and fish them out