An AI invention from Eindhoven must help prevent people from drowning. A computer recognizes whether someone is drowning and gives a warning. “An AI badmaster is never tired,” says developer Gerald Dicker who works on the High Tech Campus.
After years of development, the system is now being tested at a swimming pool in Driebergen. Next year, ten Dutch swimming pools will try out the system. It may soon be possible to hang in public swimming pools all over the world.
Above the swimming pool where it is now being tested, fourteen cameras that are connected to a computer are hanging. All swimmers and their movements are followed. If someone stays still for too long, the computer recognizes that. “It is a kind of digital lifeguard with AI,” says Dicker of the Ocuma company. “It is constantly assessed whether someone is above or under water. We have learned the system when it is a drowning and when not. It can make it better and better as we further develop the system. It learns from its own mistakes. You must be able to trust it blindly.”
Gerald jumps into the water and demonstrates it. With weights in his hands, he drops to the bottom. The computer records that it is no longer moving and sends a report to the smartwatch on the pulse of the lifeguard. On the screen of his watch he sees where Gerald is in the pool. A photo of Gerald also appears. The lifeguard immediately jumps in and brings him up.
“All these cameras see it perfectly.”
The system cannot fully replace the lifeguard. “The lifeguard must save, but it supports the lifeguard. The advantage of this system is that it never gets tired. A lifeguard is distracted or loses his concentration. The system always keeps its concentration. Now it is still supportive, but in the end you can work with fewer lifeguards.”
Here you can see how the system works. The text continues under the video.
According to Gerald, the cameras keep an eye on the swimming pool than people. “As a person you stand in a certain place and from that position you can’t see everything perfectly. All these cameras see it perfectly.”
The system is now in the development phase. It is set up in such a way that it continues to work in the event of a power failure. There will also be a solution if the connection would be lost. Ten swimming pools in the Netherlands will test this AI system to see if anyone is drowning.
Bert Lavrijsen was previously in charge of 45 swimming pools. He has experienced several drowning or near-drowning. “I have had sleepless nights. What happened? How could we have prevented it? All those kinds of questions come up. What do we have to do more than just supervising and being dependent on only human eyes? They have to be here all day and they must be concentrated.”
Lavrijsen saw the project sitting and became one of the investors. “Then you can see that with tools such as cameras it can be added value.”
The system must be on the market in a year. First the tests are in the Netherlands, then surrounding countries and ultimately the new company hopes to roll out the system all over the world.
The most recent figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) are about the period between 2014 and 2023
* Every year 88 Dutch people drowned on average. * Every year, another 27 people who are not a resident of the Netherlands drowned, such as tourists or temporary employees. * Three quarters of those drowning was in open water, such as a recreational lake or the sea. * 18 percent of the drowning was in or near the house, for example in the bath or a pond.
It concerns so -called accidental drowning, such as drowning while swimming. Drowning by an accident, suicide or murder were not included in the figures.
