Swimmers
can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are in
trouble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average
15 people drown in British pools each year, hut many more suffer major injury
after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an
artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it
sees someone in danger of drowning. When a swimmer sinks
towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a
poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard's pager. In trials at a pool in
Ancenis, near Nantes, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair
McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.
Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overheard video
cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers trajectories. To
do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow
of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater
environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing
around." says McQuade. The software does this by "projecting" a
shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wail of the pool. It does
the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different
angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified
as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer
and so the system follows its trajectory. To pick out potential
drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to
the software's "pre-alert" list, says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile
on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning.
Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by
seeing whether it obscures the pool's floor texture when viewed from overhead.
If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer's location on a poolside
screen. The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially
opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is
impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio.
Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools, and he was once an
underwater escapologist with a circus. "I say full marks to them if this works
and can save lives," he says. But he adds that any local authority spending
￡30,000-plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in
teaching children to swim.
单选题
AI means the same as ______.
A.an image.
B.an idea.
C.anyone in the water.
D.artificial intelligence.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】
单选题
What is required of AI software to save a life?
A.It must be able to swim.
B.It must keep walking round the pool.
C.It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow.
D.It can save a life within a few months.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
How does Poseidon save a life?
A.He plunges into the pool.
B.It alerts the lifeguard.
C.He cries for help.
D.It rushes to the pool.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
Which of the following statements about Trevor Baylis is NOT true?
A.He runs.
B.He invented the clockwork radio.
C.He was once an entertainer.
D.He runs a company.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
The word "considered" in paragraph 5 could be best replaced by ______.