Member Article

North East Technology Company Continues To Help Retailers In Social Distancing Times

Newcastle-based technology company, Ocucon is seeing impressive growth with their real time occupancy management solution, Occupi after an influx of new client wins over the past 2 months.

Ocucon was recently featured on the BBC’s flagship technology show, Click, demonstrating how AI technology helps retailers with social distancing measures, and showcasing how the deep learning system that Occupi uses helps to control the flow of people in and out of stores, whilst keeping shoppers and staff safe.

Occupi was developed in conjunction with Aldi and has now been rolled out across every store in the UK and Ireland. It uses deep learning technology to accurately assess how many people are in a store and works in tandem with a traffic light entry system to stop people entering until it is safe to do so. Entry lights only turn green, or permit access, when there is enough space in the store to allow for safe social distancing.

Filming took place at Aldi’s Goldthorpe branch in South Yorkshire, which is the trial store for a radical new update to the traffic light system. Following Aldi’s recent partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), audio prompts are being trialled to help blind and partially sighted customers safely enter its stores and maintain social distancing.

Gary Trotter (Ocucon CEO) said: “It was an honour to show our team’s great work with Occupi and show the impact that it is having on the retail sector to a national audience.

“We’re excited about the next stage of Occupi as we trial the new audio prompts following Aldi’s new partnership with the RNIB and hope that it is a major step in making sure that the retail experience is safe and accessible for everyone.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Danial Kennedy .