①Facial-recognition (人脸识别) cameras are everywhere,even in your smartphone. Many people use this technology to unlock their phones, open doors, or make quick payments. But during the pandemic (疫情), can it still work when people put on masks?
②The answer is no. Scientists are trying to solve this problem. For example, Engineering & Technology (E&T) magazine reports that Hanwang, a tech company in Beijing, has made a new system (系统). It can recognize 95 percent of people when they wear masks.
③What's the secret? It's all about your eyes.
④Marios Savides from Carnegie Mellon University, US, studies facial recognition. As we get older, he says, our faces change shape. But the area around our eyes doesn't. It stays the same - even if we put on weight. As long as there are enough data (数据) from the area of our eyes, the cameras can recognize us.
⑤Tech 5 is another facial-recognition company. The Swiss company's product scans (扫描) the shape of your face. It also scans your iris (虹膜), which is the colored part of your eyes. Tech 5 hopes to leave out(忽略) all of the face below the nose.
⑥This kind of software is more important than just unlocking your phone. "It can search for criminals (罪犯) and terrorists (恐怖分子) even when they wear masks," said Huang-Lei from Hanwang. Hanwang's technology is used by Chinese police in places like subway stations and airports. Similar technology is used by the United States Air Force.
⑦Huang pointed out one big weakness: it fails when people wear both a mask and sunglasses." In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost, "Lei said to E&T.