In 2008, Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens shopping center opened on a vast site of approximately 70,000 square meters on the former site of Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. The AI security system "Asilla" has been installed on a trial basis in some (50) of the surveillance cameras that had been installed inside and outside the building, and operational tests are underway.
We interviewed Mr. Naoki Maeda, Deputy General Manager of Leasing Business Department, Leasing Business Division, Hankyu Hanshin Real Estate, and Mr. Hiroshi Kimura, President of Hankyu Hanshin High Security Service Co.
(From right to left)
Hankyu Hanshin Real Estate, Inc.
Deputy General Manager, Leasing Business Department, Leasing Business Division
Mr. Naoki Maeda
Mr. Koji Kimura, President of Hankyu Hanshin High Security Service Co.
President and Representative Director
Mr. Hiroshi Kimura
Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens attracts many customers from a relatively wide area centering on the Hanshin and Hokusetsu areas. As a large-scale commercial facility that attracts a large number of unspecified customers, we manage and operate the facility with the "safety and security" of our customers as our top priority. Specific security duties include responding to sudden illnesses of customers, responding to automobiles in the parking lot, and responding to emergencies such as earthquakes and fires. In all of these cases, we believe that the initial response to an incident is extremely important. Although security guards patrol the building, we have thought since the opening of the building that an automatic alarm system that would automatically raise an alarm if an abnormality is detected by AI or other means based on the images from surveillance cameras installed in the disaster prevention center would make the initial response much smoother in terms of management and operation.
To see how far the AI security system can actually be used, "Asilla" has been installed on a trial basis in 50 of the Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens' surveillance cameras, which are of particularly high importance, to conduct a demonstration test.
Prior to the trial introduction of "Asilla," we had conducted a demonstration test of an AI security system from another overseas company, but there were problems with the AI learning period and the results of the demonstration test were not satisfactory. When we were looking for an alternative, we came to know about "Asilla" and learned about the concept of skeletal authentication, which we had never heard of before, the many patents it has acquired, the many domestic and international awards it has received, and the fact that it is also collaborating with overseas companies. Thinking that this seemed promising in terms of technology, we contacted Asilla's President Kimura and began exchanging information with him.
After that, we selected Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens from among several candidate properties and started with a demonstration test using a small number of cameras. The test was conducted by the security guards onsite.
Looking at the actual images, I feel that "we are detecting what we should be detecting. We have detected unexpected situations, such as children misbehaving with each other or workers moving late at night, but now that we have upgraded the system, we feel that it has reached a certain level of performance and is ready for practical use. I think this is largely due to the fact that we have been able to optimize the angle of view of each individual surveillance camera. The company has also been very responsive to the requests of the security guards on site, which has been very helpful.
As is true of Japan as a whole, the labor shortage in the field, especially for security guards, continues to be extremely high, and there is a strong sense of urgency in securing human resources for the future. In this case, facility security at large commercial facilities such as Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens and at the disaster prevention center of a large office complex requires extremely high skills to deal with customers and emergency situations.
In order to continue to provide "safe and secure" services to our customers, we believe that a management and operation system utilizing the latest AI and IOT is necessary in addition to the current human services provided by security guards. Through the use of "Asilla," we would like to envision an ideal management and operation system.
At Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens, we would like to introduce "Asilla" to all of the surveillance cameras (about 300 cameras) as soon as possible, in order to firmly capture security issues. If we want the AI alone to make judgments that humans would consider abnormal by looking at the monitors of surveillance cameras, adjustments will still be necessary. We also plan to optimize the placement and number of cameras as additional work, based on our understanding of the angle of view and pixel range that can be detected. There is often a conflict between picking up dangerous acts and abnormal situations more accurately down to the smallest detail and reducing the number of false positives, but with Asilla's advanced tuning technology in addition to the improved performance of the AI security system, we believe we will be able to set the optimal threshold (balance).
At present, we have not yet conducted a demonstration test in an office building, but we expect that more practical detection will become possible.
We believe that it would be very useful to search for lost children, etc., if the information obtained from skeletal recognition could be used to locate a "specific person" from multiple surveillance camera images. Of course, it would be great if a facial recognition function could be added so that the current location can be determined even from a hand-held photo.
In addition, if there is a function like a fire detector that detects smoke and flames from surveillance camera images and notifies of abnormalities in addition to human activity, it would be possible to immediately confirm the condition of the site on video, which would further support the initial response of security personnel. We are also considering the introduction of security robots, and in the future, we hope that AI analysis of surveillance cameras mounted on mobile security robots will be able to detect the same sense of abnormality as fixed cameras.
Finally, in the case of humans, it is easy to tell at a glance whether a child is just joking around or fighting. I think this is because they can sense it by looking at a combination of facial expressions, tone of voice, and surrounding circumstances. I am really looking forward to the future when I think that "Asilla" will be able to go that far.
Company name: Hankyu Hanshin Real Estate, Inc.
Location: Hankyu Terminal Building, 1-1-4 Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka City
Representative: Ryuichi Morotomi (*1)
Establishment: February 1947
Business activities: Leasing of offices and commercial facilities, real estate development, area management, real estate funds, sales of condominiums, detached houses and residential land, brokerage, renovation, rental management, land utilization, etc.
Official website:https://www.hhp.co.jp/
(*1) Moro and Takashi are old characters.
