The face recognition algorithm of Vocord, a resident company of the Skolkovo Foundation’s IT cluster, has been named the world’s most effective in its category, beating competitors including Google.
In the ranking to test various facial recognition software, the systems were pitted against MegaFace, an online database of more than 1 million photos depicting over 690,000 people photographed without posing and in natural lighting conditions.
Vocord's algorithm is designed to recognise faces in large crowds of people such as at stations and airports. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Vocord, whose algorithm is based on deep neural networks, correctly identified 75.127 percent of the faces amid 1 million distractors, the best result in the competition.
“From the very beginning, we optimized our facial recognition algorithm for use in identifying a person in a crowd,” said Alexei Kadeishvili, Vocord’s technology director.
“That position was formulated as a result of the particulars of use of our system for searching for people in crowded places, such as stations, airports, malls and so on,” he explained.
Kadeishvili said the company is currently working on optimizing its face verification algorithms, which can be used in security procedures.
“We have some very interesting results related to counteracting fraud using facial authorization,” he added.
Vocord’s system is already in use in final products, and can process up to 3 million images for comparison per second.
Alexei Gonnochenko, Vocord’s project manager within Skolkovo’s Robocentre, said the company’s success was due to its ceaseless research.
“Vocord has been working on recognition systems for 16 years, and the team of developers actively introduces cutting-edge technology into its production,” he said. “The effectiveness of its algorithms is constantly growing, and Vocord successfully retains its leading position among competitors thanks to this ongoing research.”
In addition to face recognition technology, Vocord makes systems for recording traffic violations and monitoring traffic volumes and for use in video surveillance. Its software is used in more than 70 projects aimed at improving safety in cities, both in Russia and abroad.
The company will present its Vocord FaceControl and Vocord FaceControl 3D products at the international Global Identity Summit later this month in Tampa, Florida.