Chinese Students From Wuhan Invent Invisibility Cloak To Hide From AI Security Cameras

Ever since we watched Harry Potter hide under an invisibility cloak whenever he was at Peril’s Gate, everybody has been waiting for the day the trustee cloak becomes a reality so they can make their own quick exits. It seems that the moment is not so far off, as four graduate students from Wuhan, China, have come very close to making one.??

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Chinese Students Invent Invisibility Cloak Device

Although the magical invisibility cloak in the Harry Potter movies was a tad bit different from its Chinese counterpart, Potterheads will still be livid after finding out about the Chinese version. The students from the University of Wuhan have invented a low-cost invisibility cloak and have named their invention “InvisiDefense coat”.?

Unlike Potter’s cloak, this device only works with AI-monitored cameras, as it was made in order to hide the human body from AI-monitored security cameras.?The cloak is actually not fashioned in the shape of a cloak but is a camouflage T-shirt designed to beat the sophisticated technology of facial recognition devices installed in China.

From the outside, the device looks like any ordinary T-shirt but will serve as an important milestone in scientific research. It can be used to hide dissidents, migrant workers, and ethnic groups from state-run AI surveillance. During the day, it looks like a normal garment, but by night, it transforms into an invisibility cloak as it emits varying amounts of heat signatures to confuse the infrared thermal imaging cameras that use heat to map out humans and other objects.??

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The Results Of Their Test Runs Show Promising Results

Professor Wang Zheng, who oversaw the project, told National Post, "Nowadays, many?surveillance?devices can detect human bodies. Cameras on the road have?pedestrian?detection functions, and smart cars can identify pedestrians, roads, and obstacles." He further added, "Our InvisDefense allows the camera to capture you, but it cannot tell if you are human."

After running tests on the device, the students found out that the device helped hide pedestrians about 57 percent of the time. Wei Hui, one of the students behind the cloak, told Vice, "We had to use an algorithm to design a least conspicuous image that could render camera?vision?ineffective."

Source: National Post

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