BMCC Facial Recognition ID Scan Enterprise System

(B.F.R.I.S.E.S)

Tools Used

  • Python
  • OpenCV
  • Google Sites
  • Javascript
  • MongoDB

Overview

BMCC Facial Recognition ID Scan Enterprise System (BRISES) was our team's submission for BMCC's AI Innovation Challenge. Home court advantage for me (and everyone else). I actually was about to commit to BostonHacks instead of this one and take a train up to boston but the GOAT Prof. Azhar convinced me to cancel the train and pull up here instead. Honestly I'm glad I did, because not only were we able to make a great project, but i was also able to connect with a lot of people at my school especially those in the CS department, strengthening my local network

speaking on BFRISES itself, its simply a facial recognition system that will scan a person's face and check to see if it matches with one in the database. while its the simplest project ive worked on, it might be my favorite after seeing it work so well

Development

for this project we split it up into two parts: the backend with the databses and the python/facial recognition. the database used mongodb to store facial embeddings along with attributes like EMPLID and name. each time the program is run it pulls embeddings from the database to see if any match the current face, which was done with python and opencv. there was also a good amount of routing (my least favorite part) done between the python and db to ensure it would be able to pull from the database effectively

Reflection

in the end we got an honorable mention, which while im happy with it i do think we deserved 1st. from a techincality aspect our project was definitely there, i think it just fell short in the demo/presentation. its practicality may also have been limited since bmcc is already switching to digital ids but i dont think the idea itself was the main issue. from a PM standpoint i think i improved from HackRU, being able to better manage how things done though i do think there was still a lot to be desired. ultamitely the my presentation skills were the thing that should have been improved on the most, but even then our project was still the coolest imo. we didnt do a simple website or webapp, and i was able to learn opencv which is something ive always wanted to work with

my team was also very helpful, especially in my weak areas like javascript and the routing stuff. shoutout to karyn for that. and shoutout to alan and sam for helping hash ideas out and getting the presentations done in time. we really clutched up near the end

The After Party

funny story but after the hackathon (the night it ended) i booked a bus to boston to see what was poppin in boston. one of my friends (and one of the mentors) Mahin went there a bit earlier to participate in the hackathon and i went a few hours after. the bus ride there was by far the best bus ride ive ever taken. 8:00pm autumn night with nobody on board the bus. just time to sit there and think, empty out my mind whatever. it was really relaxing and for whatever reason the bus driver stopped in burger king along the way. the bus ride there is something i need again sometime.

in boston i popped out to BU to see what was up. i was staying with my friend Alex at northeastern and we went over in the morning. CUNY is on the come up cuz two hunter teams took home track prizes at the event (shoutout Mahin, Ashleigh, Aaron, Ishraq, and Justin). makin me proud to be in CUNY type shit. i think the rest of the day i just chilled at northeastern before going back, afterparty was lit asf tho and even though i didnt code i count that as a hackathon for the season