Breaking Through COVID-19 with 'AI Convergence' Innovation Projects ... Dongmyeong University is Currently Undergoing a 'Revolution'

Leading the '4th Industrial Revolution' through the Youth Unicorn Startup Discovery Project
Development of a 'Contactless Fever Measurement Access Control System' from Startup Projects
AI Mushroom Production Launched in the Smart Container Farm 'Sma

AI company recently developed a contactless fever screening system.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] #1. A ‘fever measurement access control system’ that automatically measures the wrist temperature of a person entering within a certain distance and conducts self-sterilization in response to high fever.

#2. A smart farm system where a smart ‘AI (Artificial Intelligence) farmer’ cultivates mushrooms in a container farm in the city.

Both are not stories from different neighborhoods or different worlds. Although they seem different, they share a major common denominator: they have sparked innovation called ‘AI convergence.’

Both were initiated at a university. Dongmyung University in Busan, which upgraded its specialization strategy from IT to AI, has continuously promoted and achieved ‘AI convergence innovation.’ This is a small but strong revolution. This is a self-portrait of the university facing the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Dongmyung University has been celebrating success by quickly launching a ‘smart farm mushroom’ developed and marketed through university startup groups and projects, followed by a non-face-to-face fever measurement access control system, predicting a big hit.

Joo Jae-young (28 years old, CEO of AI Company), who came from a startup club, recently succeeded in developing a ‘non-face-to-face fever measurement access control system’ perfectly suited for COVID-19.

CEO Ju Jae-young of AI Company.

Through KTech, it was successfully commercialized under the brand name ‘K-Scanner.’ This was achieved through the university’s youth unicorn startup discovery project.

CEO Joo graduated from Dongmyung University’s Department of Robot Systems Engineering in February 2018 and completed his master’s degree in Mechanical Systems Engineering this February. He founded the company last May and created an essential product for the ‘With Corona era’ within four months.

This system consists of ▲K-Scanner thermal scanner and ▲K-Scanner quarantine stand, an access control system. Its greatest advantage is that it quickly and easily performs temperature measurement and visitor management.

The K-Scanner thermal scanner automatically activates temperature measurement by detecting the wrist at a certain distance without direct contact. It can measure temperature non-face-to-face and unmanned by linking with a webcam.

It also has a built-in UV (ultraviolet rays) sterilization function. If a person with a high fever symptom touches or comes within the ‘effective range,’ self-sterilization is performed, so there is no concern about infection of the system components.

The kiosk (unmanned information terminal) currently being developed as a derivative model is designed to be installed and operated in various locations with a central monitoring system applied.

The electronic access log service provided together with the K-Scanner quarantine stand replaces the traditional handwritten logs with touch input.

It allows fast input and integrated management of the entered data by each terminal, and the data can be downloaded and utilized in Excel file format when needed.

The youth unicorn startup discovery project, led by Professor Kim Deok-sul of the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering, is discovering young entrepreneurs who will develop untact technologies to overcome COVID-19.

It is pouring energy into providing practical startup experience, laying the foundation for growth into global unicorn companies, and spreading the startup culture among university students.

Dongmyung University LINC+ Project Group (Director Shin Dong-seok), Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering (Head Kim Deok-sul, Startup Club Advisor Professor Park Jun-mo), youth startup consulting firm Alpha Career Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Sang-jin), and youth startup company KTech (CEO Oh Sang-min) jointly participate to provide technical advice supporting product development and commercialization.

K-Scanner was completed through the sweat and synergy of these efforts. The Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Busan Catholic University (Director Jung Yong-jun) took charge of prototype production support and led commercialization.

Lee Sang-jin, CEO of Alpha Career, evaluated, “Collaboration between universities and companies to discover and support local youth unicorn startups has produced a successful model of education and startup industry-academic cooperation.”

Oh Sang-min, CEO of KTech, which is proceeding with commercialization, said, “We are working with Dongmyung University and Busan Catholic University on joint industry-academic technology development and securing intellectual property rights. The system has been installed at Catholic University, and next year we plan to install the access control system at several universities in the Busan area.”

Director Shin Dong-seok said, “This is the result of a project reflecting changes in society and university education due to COVID-19, and it is an innovative product that will solve various problems of access control.”

He added, “We will actively support the accumulation of COVID-19 response experience and continuous achievements through various ideas and business solution support.”

They are showcasing the 'Dongmyeong Amigo' mushrooms cultivated with AI technology at Dongmyeong University's Smart Farm.

Prior to this, Dongmyung University developed a ‘smart container farm.’ It also succeeded in ‘smart farm AI mushroom cultivation’ and plans to launch a mushroom called ‘Dongmyung Amigo’ on the market.

On August 14, the AI Convergence Smart Farm Technology Research Institute was inaugurated on the urban campus, and a celebratory time was held for the first harvest of the cultivated mushroom ‘Dongmyung Amigo.’

This mushroom is a low-temperature shiitake mushroom that combines the advantages of shiitake and matsutake mushrooms. The crop, which is said to grow listening to the farmer’s breathing and footsteps, now grows under the meticulous care of an ‘AI farmer’ in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

This new concept mushroom, soon to be released on the market, is the result of ‘AI convergence innovation’ achieved by the meeting of ‘agriculture’ and ‘AI.’

Dongmyung University’s smart farm controls the growth environment such as temperature and humidity, light intensity, carbon dioxide emission, fresh air inflow, humidification, and dehumidification ‘in the palm of your hand.’ We are entering an era where the finger movements handling a smartphone sound like the footsteps of a farmer.