Children, seniors and people with disabilities: face recognition that works for everyone

The terminal's height and angle

The most important decision is where the terminal goes. Most devices have a reading angle that covers a range of heights, and the installation has to consider who walks through: adults standing, children, people in wheelchairs. An intermediate height, with the terminal slightly tilted, usually serves everyone; the eye level of a tall adult does not.

When the height range is very wide, as at a garage entrance that pedestrians also use, the answer may be a second, lower terminal or an alternative method, such as a card or a PIN, for anyone the camera does not frame well.

Children: the face changes

A child's face changes faster than an adult's, and an enrollment made at six may fail at eight. That doesn't rule out the use, but it calls for a routine: retake the photo every year or two, or whenever the terminal starts refusing. It's also worth deciding, with the parents, from what age a child enters alone, and giving younger ones access together with a guardian.

Children who don't yet enter on their own need no enrollment. The access belongs to the adult accompanying them.

Seniors: fewer steps, more alternatives

For many seniors, face recognition is easier than any other method: no card to carry, no PIN to remember, no app to open. The care goes into the enrollment, which should be done calmly and, preferably, at the condominium itself, with someone helping to position the photo.

It's also important to keep a backup method. A card or a simple PIN, in the same enrollment, takes care of the day the terminal doesn't recognize them because of a bandage, new glasses or poor light. A resident should never need their phone to get into their own home.

People with disabilities

Each situation calls for its own solution, but a few practices cover most cases:

• Wheelchair users: a terminal at a compatible height, a step-free approach and enough door release time to get through.
• Blind people and people with low vision: the terminal should give a clear audible signal that it recognized them, and the door should open without anyone having to read the screen.
• Deaf people: the opening signal should be visual, and the intercom needs a text or video alternative.
• Reduced mobility: the time the lock stays released should be adjusted, and the exit button should be within reach.

Brazil's accessibility standard, NBR 9050, gives the reference measurements, and the installer should know it.

Glasses, masks, beards and other details

Today's terminals cope well with prescription glasses, a new haircut and beards. Sunglasses, masks and caps that cover part of the face lower the recognition rate, and guidance to residents solves most of those cases. When someone wears one of those items out of necessity, such as a mask for health reasons, the enrollment can be redone with it, or the backup method takes over.

The same applies to anyone going through a treatment that changes their face, such as surgery or rapid weight loss. The enrollment photo should keep up with the person, and retaking it has to be simple, with no technician's visit required.

How Abriu handles it

At Abriu, each person has a single enrollment, which can hold a face, a card, a fingerprint and a PIN at the same time, depending on what the terminals of that door support. So anyone who struggles with one method gets in with another, without a second enrollment. The photo can be taken on the spot with the phone's camera, at the condominium itself, and replaced when a child's face changes, with the change recorded in the audit log.

Height, angle and release time are installation decisions, made during the site visit with the condominium. The terminals are Hikvision, and what each model does with audible and visual signals is in the proposal, so the choice takes into account who will use the door.