Education technology provider launches first facial recognition software to UK secondary schools
CRB Cunninghams, provider of cashless catering, online payment, and identity management solutions to education establishments in the UK, is the first education technology company to launch Facial Recognition software for UK secondary schools. The first of its kind software offers pupils the ability to collect and pay for school lunches without the need for physical contact, providing a fully contactless meal collection method.
Contactless recognition method
Joining Fusion, CRB Cunninghams’ existing range of identity recognition options, including biometric smart card and PIN, Facial Recognition is developed to offer secondary schools a truly contactless identification method. The new software reduces the need for students to carry any form of identification, such as a card or PIN.
With Facial Recognition, pupils select their meal, look at the camera and go, eliminating any contact at the point of sale. Intuitive technology enables the POS operators to quickly identify the pupil’s cashless account whilst payments are instantly adjusted in the same way as all other identification methods in CRB Cunninghams Fusion software.
Developing Facial Recognition
CRB Cunninghams has used biometric data since 2008 to identify pupils on the cashless system to pay for school meals and began exploring the development of Facial Recognition as a new identification method in late 2019.
“When we developed Facial Recognition, we focused on creating a straightforward contactless solution for all pupils and providing a long-term safe and secure transaction method post-COVID-19.” Said Carl Lewis, Release Manager at CRB Cunninghams. “There has been a huge shift in the way schools operate over the past year, especially regarding the way pupils order and pay for their lunches. We built Facial Recognition to help schools adapt to these changes and offer a unique and effective enhancement to their lunch service.”
Due to the pandemic and the increasing demand for contactless meal collection options for schools, CRB Cunninghams developed Facial Recognition to retain the security of fingerprints whilst eliminating the requirement to touch a scanner. As an increasing number of UK schools focus on removing cash from the dining hall, CRB Cunninghams developed Facial Recognition in response to the changing landscape of school lunchtimes and to provide schools across the UK with a solution that focuses on safeguarding staff and pupils.
“When schools reopened after lockdown, we noticed an increasing number of our customers required a fully contactless lunch ordering method that guaranteed staff and pupil safety as they adapted to a new style of lunch service,” said David Swanston, Managing Director of CRB Cunninghams. “After the overwhelming success of Fusion Online, our pre-order app, we developed Facial Recognition to offer secondary schools a fully contactless lunch collection method. Facial Recognition seamlessly integrates with our existing cashless ordering solutions, helping schools increase their speed of service and simplify the payment and collection process.”
Kingsmeadow School, based in Dunston, was the first UK school to implement CRB Cunningham’s Facial Recognition solution and described the software as “fast, better than fingerprints.”
For more information on CRB Cunninghams’ Facial Recognition software for secondary schools, visit: https://bit.ly/3wuMI2z.
To learn more about CRB Cunninghams, visit the CRB Cunninghams website.
