As part of Smart Campus, cameras were installed in Unicamp's university restaurants. The objective is to provide users with knowledge about the flow of people. During this period of the pandemic, when only the University Restaurant is in operation, the images help to avoid crowds when picking up meals.
Four cameras are installed in the restaurants, as explained by Rafael Pereira de Sousa, who is part of the IT team at the University City Hall, of which the project is part, within the scope of the work cell SmartCampus. “The cameras are on 24 hours a day and collect information on the flow of people and the size of the queue at each restaurant. The image is captured, goes through processing and it detects how many people are there at the moment and a count is made”, he explains.
The Smart Campus began in 2016, with the aim of using the Internet of Things concept to make everyday life on campus more productive. The real-time location of internal circular buses and buses that transport people to homes and the counting of vehicles in parking lots are other areas consolidated within the scope of the project.
The images of the restaurants, in real time, can be seen on the City Hall website, on the restaurant menu page (access here). By clicking on the image you can see how many people were detected. The algorithm responsible for this uses artificial intelligence, in the field of machine learning, and was created by Mechanical Engineering student Tibério Ferreira. The camera project was developed together with professor Juliana Borin, from the Computing Institute, and the company Konker. The images can be used for subsequent studies.
For the mayor of Cidade Universitária, Juliano Finelli, the project could prevent, during times of in-person activities, users from remaining in line unnecessarily. As for management, “it also allows checking peaks in movement, the days with the highest volume of people, cross-checking data with menus, among others. In times of pandemic, it makes it easier for restaurant users to check whether there is any crowding before heading to the location.”
Challenges and proposals for city hall
The campus mayor, Juliano Finelli, took office alongside the rectory elected in 2021. The first technical-administrative employee to be in charge of the city hall, he presents the main challenges and proposals for its management.
The first point refers to the management concept itself, involving professional development of the work team; the second concerns food, with infrastructural investments in canteens; the third involves experience, helping units and bodies to hold events, with a view to making campuses more interactive and productive; the fourth points to sustainability, involving waste management, alternative energy and measurement and control of water use.
In terms of sustainability, the mayor points out, there is still a proposal focused on the vegetation cover of the campuses, aiming to improve the environment and the health of the university community. “We are taking on as a challenge and priority proposal the implementation of a planned afforestation project, aiming to expand the green areas of the campuses. However, we are aware that there is still a lot to improve with new ideas and innovative solutions. This theme will be central to our management, and the City Hall will be highly receptive to initiatives aimed at the sustainability of the university and the territories in which we operate”.
Furthermore, in relation to mobility and accessibility, Juliano emphasizes that there is a focus on the fact that campuses are affected by the large circulation of individual vehicles. “Responding to an international trend towards encouraging the use of vehicles that do not produce greenhouse gases, we are studying how to encourage more intensive use of bicycles on campus, integrated into the cycle path systems in the District of Barão Geraldo and the cities of Limeira and Piracicaba”, he points out.
