Real-Time Face Mask Detector and Dispensing System with a Contact-less Sanitiser Dispensing System

With the Coronavirus disease outbreak in 2019, life appeared to have come to a halt. To combat virus transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that wearing a face mask was an essential step in limiting virus spread. However, the process of manually determining whether or not people are wearing face masks in public places and also ensuring that their hands are sanitised properly is highly time-consuming and inefficient. This problem is also highly relevant in labs, research centres, hospital units and any other controlled environment where exposure can lead to compromises in health and/or experimental results. Therefore, a need to automate this process was felt. In this paper, a solution is proposed in the form of a system that can perform real-time face mask detection using a series of low-cost, low-power systems on a chip microcontroller for getting the real-time image of the subject and then use a machine learning classifier model to check whether a face mask is worn or not. In case a mask is not worn by the subject, then the system dispenses a mask that can be worn to enter the designated space. Along with this, the system is also equipped with a contactless sanitiser dispenser that helps the subject to get their hands sanitised.