

UniUni (official site) is a startup that tackles an issue that’s been largely ignored to date: private security in areas which have been excluded from surveillance, like public restrooms or retail dressing rooms. Whether or not it’s violent acts, drug use, voyeurism through hidden cameras, and extra. These have been places historically troublesome to video-monitor for apparent privateness causes. UniUni calls these locations “technological blind spots”.
Observe that there’s a courier/delivery company with the same name, but it surely’s a completely completely different enterprise.
This startup believes it has the expertise that may lastly reply this problem, due to a mixture of {hardware} and software program. The {hardware} presents itself within the type of a small monitoring field, which you’ll maintain in your hand.
Usually, it will be put in on the ceiling of every particular person bathroom seat, however fret not, there’s no digital camera inside. As an alternative, there’s a lidar gadget that acts extra like a radar, because it perceives depth as an alternative of colours. Identical to a radar, it could let you know there’s somebody (or one thing) however there’s no video or images that voyeurs would need.
We’ve seen the sort of “radar” expertise earlier than, and we all know it really works for presence-detection purposes. Nonetheless, UniUni takes the expertise to the following stage by including a layer of A.I (Synthetic Intelligence) on high of the uncooked information.
The corporate claims it could sense irregular conditions akin to violence, drug use, or individuals putting hidden cameras in restrooms. If it really works as marketed, that might be a private security game-changer as it is vitally onerous to watch so many places with out critical automation.
Totally different locations may expertise completely different challenges. For instance, Korea had a hidden digital camera concern just lately, however different international locations may expertise excessive drug utilization or bodily assaults in these places.
Hidden cameras are rather more costly to seek out and take away than stopping their set up within the first place, when potential. There are additionally instances the place individuals may expertise a fall or faint, wherein UniUni’s product may alert personnel to assist.
Past private security, the corporate factors out that it’s also potential to enhance services upkeep as nicely by estimating when the bathroom paper must be modified, how typically the cleanup needs to be executed, and many others.
Usually, this may be deployed in comparatively giant buildings, and the constructing proprietor or their safety personnel would get the notification and entry to the information through a dashboard. All of the software program runs as a SaaS (service page) and through a neighborhood wi-fi community, which makes this very simple to put in. The monitoring gadget prices about $350 and the SaaS service is about $100 per thirty days.
To date, this has been deployed to about 30 websites in Korea, and UniUni is looking for to promote it within the USA. The European Union can also be a fascinating market, however the firm remains to be going by way of paperwork proper now.
UniUni’s monitoring resolution may be very attention-grabbing because it overcomes a few of the apparent points with video surveillance in the sort of location. On the similar time, it does present a few of the similar benefits as video surveillance, with out affecting privateness as a lot.
Filed in CES, CES 2024, Korea, Motion Sensing, Security and Startups.
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