Roses carries out a pilot test based on artificial intelligence to prevent drownings on the beach
The Roses City Council has incorporated a drowning detection system based on artificial intelligence into its beach surveillance and lifeguard service, which helps and alerts professional lifeguards to risky situations so that they can act in time. A first pilot test is being carried out on Santa Margarida beach which, if successful, will be gradually expanded to the rest of the municipality's urban beaches.
The new service is a project led by Pro-activa Serveis Aquàtics, a company responsible for surveillance, rescue and first aid on the beaches of Roses. It is called LAIF and consists of an innovative digitalization system that, through the application of artificial intelligence and the installation of cameras that analyze the situation on the coast in real time (without recording), sends immediate alerts to surveillance stations that , in turn, notify lifeguards so that they can act in the event of identifying a risky situation.
The project has been developed jointly with the Technology Transfer and Innovation Group of CIMNE, the UPC's technology center.
It is, therefore, a system that does not replace human surveillance activity , but rather complements it. The Councillor for Environment and Beaches of Roses, Lluís Espada, highlights " the interest of the council in implementing those services and technologies that can save human lives. It is very important to be attentive to the opportunities that technological advances offer us. In this case, digital monitoring will support the human team in charge of the service, especially in those cases that are more difficult to detect, such as a situation in which a person suffers a health complication when in the water and does not show obvious signs of drowning to the naked eye. "
From this August until the end of September, this first pilot test is being carried out on the beach adjacent to the mouth of Santa Margarida, one of the busiest in Roses. Depending on the results, the improvement will be expanded in subsequent phases to the rest of the urban beaches in the municipality.
