An app called 'Fresent' wants to check attendance with a single photo
Authored by Ateneo de Manila students, the app is an entry to a programming contest offering a total of P100,000 in prize money.
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| SAY CHEESE. The app is being designed to get better at identification through artificial intelligence that actively learns. Screenshot from YouTube/Aemielvin Loremia |
MANILA, Philippines – A group of students from the Ateneo de Manila University conceptualized an app that might score them big points from their professors: an attendance checker.
It goes by the name "Fresent,"and it hopes to simplify the traditional roll-calling process with the use of a smartphone, its camera, and artificial intelligence. To use, a teacher merely takes a photo of the class, and the app automatically identifies who's "fresent" and who's not.
Using deep learning technology, the app's identification prowess is supposed to grow with every use. With an entire school staff using the app, the creators – known as Team Fresent – believe that the app becomes more efficient in checking attendance through time. Identification data will also supposedly be stored in an online database – a pool of collected information that allows the app to identify students more efficiently.
The app creators, in a video, said that th e process of checking attendance is an "appalling chore" which takes away "valuable time from speaking, from listening, and time for learning." The app, the creators say, will be able to save a class 6 minutes that would've been wasted on a typical roll-call.
