From today schools in the UK are using facial recognition technology to allow pupils to pay for their lunch.
image: Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images
The technology, supplied by CBR Cunninghams who installed the software, is to be trialled in nine schools in North Ayrshire.
Many schools already use biometric software, such as fingerprint recognition, to take payments but facial recognition is billed as being quicker and more Covid-secure.
David Swanston, MD of CBR Cunninghams, told the Financial Times it was “the fastest way of recognising someone at the till. In a secondary school you have around about a 25-minute period to serve potentially 1,000 pupils. So we need fast throughput at the point of sale."
Swanston said the software cut the average transaction time by five seconds per pupil.
North Ayrshire Council said it had the consent of 97% of children or their parents to the new system.