A new artificial intelligence-based (AI) system, Sightbit, developed by alumni of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, helps lifeguards monitor thousands of swimmers, as well as identify risky situations and other water hazards. In fact, it aims to save lives and modernize ocean rescue practices worldwide.
Using the system, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority will make Palmachim National Park, with five miles of coastline, the first “smart beach.”
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 320,000 drowning deaths take place annually worldwide. Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths.
In the United States alone, there are more than 5,000 coastal beaches, 70,000 lakeside beaches, 12,000 marinas, 88,000 dams and reservoirs, and 300,000 public pools that can directly benefit from Sightbit’s technology.
“Sightbit is, in essence, an AI lifeguard and superior to humans [who] aren’t optimized for tracking hundreds of swimmers with or without binoculars,” says BGU alum Netanel Eliav, chief executive officer of Sightbit. “In the case of drowning, every second is critical. Our system acts as an additional lifeguard by flagging threats to swimmers and providing an earlier warning so they can act more quickly and save lives.”
The core system is based on deep-learning computer-vision technology with convolutional neural network architectures for object detection, which feature extraction and real-time predictive analytics.
The system rates sections of a beach according to a risk assessment model with crowd-management solutions and weather conditions, and offers estimates on how many lifeguards are needed on a given day to safely monitor swimmers.
In addition to real-time alerts and water hazards, its analytics also enable lifeguards to anticipate risk and take preventative action before swimmers are ever in danger.
The system also monitors certain at-risk populations such as child swimmers and can even be used to guard beaches where lifeguards are not present or off-duty. The lifeguards can set the parameters of what warning alerts they see. Different options include dangerous currents, vessels (boats, jet skis, etc.) and riptides.
Sightbit received investment from Cactus Capital, a student venture-capital fund established by the 360 Entrepreneurship Center at BGU to invest in student and alumni startups as part of a student training and coaching program.
According to Amir Chen, director of Coastal Space and Parks Authority, “Sightbit’s innovative solution is in line with the Nature and Parks Authority’s ambition to ensure as much as possible the safety of travelers and visitors to the national parks and reserves using advanced and innovative technologies, among other things at the beach.”
The Sightbit team plans to expand internationally, and has been invited to conduct additional pilots at beaches in the United States and Europe.
