Blog
Insights from the field.
Perspectives on AI-video analytics, operational intelligence, and the industries we serve.
Unleash live Raises $8M in Series A to Scale for Enterprise Analytics
SYDNEY, Australia - Unleash live, one of the world’s leading AI video analytics platforms, today announces an $8 million Series A funding round led by SafetyCulture. Launched in 2016 by co-founders Hanno Blankenstein and Jason Grier, Unleash live’s AI powered real time analytics platform, ‘Intelligent Remote Vision’, generates immediate insights that enable enterprises to materially drive down costs, raise productivity, increase accuracy, and improve safety. The company has seen over 500% growth since March 2020. “We’re excited to welcome the combined expertise of SafetyCulture and renowned investor Roger Allen AM, who will drive the continued success of Unleash live and help take us to the next level.” said co-founder and CEO Hanno Blankenstein. Unleash live reached an impressive milestone earlier this year, completing 30 million minutes of analysed video, providing analytics across a wide range of enterprise and government use cases, from automating inspections for optimised performance on wind farms, to supporting public transport operators with commuter, social distancing and face mask analytics. In addition to its investment in Unleash live, SafetyCulture CEO, Luke Anear, will be joining the board. SafetyCulture is a global operations platform empowering teams to drive workplace improvements. One of the fastest-growing technology companies in Australia, it also acquired micro-learning business EdApp in 2020. “It’s great to see such innovative new thinking in response to old challenges,” Anear said. “We recognise the potential of leveraging camera feeds to trigger safer, smarter actions. AI video analytics is an enormously powerful data source for an operations platform like ours, and one that many of our customers can benefit from. Unleash live has shown extraordinary growth during the past year. I’m eager to help them support more organisations globally to be better, faster and more reliable." Roger Allen AM is an experienced software entrepreneur and venture
Unleash live on Sky News
Our CEO, Hanno Blankenstein, joins Gabriella Power at the Sky News Tech perspective series to discuss how COVID-19 has catalyzed Unleash live's growth. "Machines and machine learning will be essential elements to assist humans to perform better and faster, and at a larger scale. It will augment what we do, I don't think it will replace us as creative individuals but it is essential to really drive digitisation and have processes supported by technology and AI to work more efficiently, and have a more fulfilling workplace." - Hanno Blankenstein, CEO of Unleash live {% video_player "embed_player" overrideable=False, type='hsvideo2', hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=False, hidden_controls=False, loop=False, muted=False, full_width=False, width='1920', height='1080', player_id='106718010167', style='max-width: 1920px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; width: 100%; display: inline-block;' %} Unleash live featured on Sky News About Unleash live Unleash live is an A.I. video analytics enterprise solution provider. We take a vision from any camera and combine it with computer vision to deliver actionable data in real time so that organizations have immediate insights to drive down costs, improve productivity, increase accuracy, and improve safety.
Unleash live Launches on Amazon Web Services Marketplace
Real-time video data analytics are now accessible to AWS Marketplace customers and partners Sydney, Australia 18th May 2021 – Unleash live, a cloud-based video analytics platform that utilizes real-time A.I. analytics to turn video and imagery into actionable insights, has announced today that its services will be available on the AWS Marketplace. The launch of Unleash live services with AWS will offer greater accessibility to a growing portfolio of services designed to enable businesses to make informed decisions based on image-based data. Unleash live is a rapidly evolving platform of services designed to deliver solutions to businesses seeking to enhance operations based on video and image-based information and content. The portfolio of services already supports businesses and operations in various environments, including energy, infrastructure, transport, public safety, resources, and more. “Demand has never been greater for real time intelligent cloud-based processing capabilities that Unleash live has deployed for a range of customers around the world,” said Hanno Blankenstein, Co-Founder, and CEO of Unleash live. ”With AWS Marketplace, we are making it easy and seamless for customers to inject powerful industrial video analytics into their workflow.” AWS customers and consulting partners can now access Unleash live within minutes, creating a seamless and easy transaction by removing the need for direct contracting and validations. Unleash live services will be available in a pre-configured format to run on-demand through existing AWS billing relationships. Utilizing AWS Marketplace to access Unleash live, AWS customers and consulting partners can now access the following Unleash live services: Get started by utilizing investments already made in existing camera hardware. Apply A.I. insights already developed from the A.I. App Store, or choose to have one developed by the Unleash live team. Deploy with confidence and security, starting with one camera with the
Unleash live Achieves AWS Public Safety & Disaster Response Competency
From unlocking situational awareness through live video drones to tracking property destruction after a wildfire, Unleash live’s designation officially recognizes the company’s role in protecting public from emergencies and disasters. 3rd December 2020 – Unleash live, the video analytics platform combining intelligent vision and A.I. analytics to turn video and imagery into actionable insights, announced today that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Safety & Disaster Response (PSDR) Competency status. This designation recognizes Unleash live’s ability to remove the guesswork from running remote operations for cities, infrastructure, and public safety tasks, while helping customers leverage the power of AWS to protect the public and prepare, respond, and recover from natural or man-made emergencies and disasters. Since 2015, Unleash live’s platform has helped organizations across the world build intelligence into their camera networks; from face mask adoption monitoring, to wind farm and power line inspections, Unleash live has innovated previously manual processes to make them smarter and more efficient. Achieving the AWS PSDR Competency differentiates Unleash live as an AWS Technology Partner that has demonstrated deep expertise within this unique customer need, via demonstrating technical proficiency and proven customer success developing technology focused on Data & Analytics. To receive the designation, AWS Partners must possess deep AWS expertise and design AWS Well-Architected solutions delivered seamlessly on AWS. “At Unleash live, we’re committed to measuring reality differently, and driving forward industrial transformations for big enterprises and cities alike,” said Hanno Blankenstein, CEO & Co-Founder. “Our achievement of the AWS Public Safety & Disaster Response Competency designation is a testament to our commitment to public safety organizations and their mission. AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from star
Unleash live Secures Grant to Roll Out Enterprise - AI App Store
With the new Accelerating Commercialisation Grant, Unleash live is building a self-serve app store and training engine for computer vision experts to roll out AI apps for enterprise and government entities. 2nd December 2020 – Unleash live, the video analytics platform combining intelligent vision and AI analytics to turn video and imagery into actionable insights, announced today that it has successfully been awarded the Australian Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation grant. The $475,000 Grant will enable Unleash Live to scale its industry-leading AI app store further so computer vision developers can build, train, deploy, and ultimately monetize their algorithms across multiple enterprise use cases. Today, Unleash Live has dozens of Apps in the App Store providing real-time analytics for customers across multiple industries, including wind farm inspections, mining, power lines, and cities & transport. “At Unleash live, we provide a seamless, no-hassle way for enterprises to extract greater value from their existing camera infrastructure, irrespective of the device, be it a drone, phone, or IP camera. We ingest this data and run live AI to provide fast insights for our customers,” said Hanno Blankenstein, CEO and co-founder of Unleash Live. “By connecting computer vision experts with the visual data they need to train AI apps and providing the tools they need to build and deploy, we are bringing a supply and demand model together to unlock value for developers and enterprises alike.” The AC Grant helps Australian entrepreneurs address the challenges of commercializing novel intellectual property. The Entrepreneurs' Program aims to drive business growth and competitiveness through support for business improvement and promoting economic growth through research connections and commercialization. About Unleash live Unleash live is the Machine Learning AI video analytics platform built to measure reality for organizations of all sizes, from city governments to mi
Supercharge Pipeline Inspections With UAV Technology
The energy sector is benefiting from the introduction of UAV technology. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones, offer a specific range of benefits as an asset management tool for pipeline inspection and detection of integrity issues. Drones are the ideal solution for conducting visual inspections of infrastructure and gathering extensive data of linear assets while minimising field staff requirements. Traditional linear assets such as pipelines pose a significant challenge to inspect and monitor throughout their lifetime in order to reduce construction, operational, and maintenance costs, as well as minimise potential environmental impact. The value of this information is based on its mobilisation in a logical approach to the inspection process for numerous types of pipeline monitoring and construction operations. In combination, aerial drones and a powerful cloud-based platform can produce online, instantly updated mapping, and annotations for an experienced inspection team to remotely monitor, share, and report. Apply a Complete Inspection Workflow The combination of drone service providers and Unleash lives powerful mapping and modeling technology provides a complete solution through which inspection teams can reduce the time required to inspect pipeline construction, regeneration, and Right of Way (ROW) compliance. A drone flight in progress The first step is always a regular, well-planned capture process with a meticulously coordinated flight path for repeatable data capture. This requires good communication between the drone team and the inspection program to get the exact area(s) required. The captured images are processed on the account to create an accurate 2D orthomosaic, 3D model, and point cloud for analysis by the inspection staff, engineers, or project managers from any connected environment. Each flight is represented as a layered 2D Orthomosaic in the Fusion Atlas (Unleash live’s digital asset map) which combines rich contextual data such as appr
Discussing Real Time Video Analytics with our Chief Product Officer
James Kwong, Chief Product Officer was recently asked to showcase Unleash live’s work with Miami Dade County Metro for the AWS Public Sector Summit. In the session, James provides a deeper dive into the challenges faced during COVID-19 by Public Sector providers such as Miami-Dade County and how a cloud-based video analytics platform can be used to support day-to-day operational resourcing and planning. Question: For those without the time to watch the AWS session, can you describe in 2 sentences or less the challenge and solution offered by Unleash live for Miami-Dade County James: Miami-Dade Metro-rail decided to suspend fares and open up ticketing gates during Covid-19 for the safety of transit riders and employees in order to lessen the need for non-essential interactions and promote social distancing.. As a result, they lost ticketing data and could not measure demand for their service. Unleash live utilized their existing cameras based in the stations to provide real time commuter volumes and visibility for operational planning Question: Does Unleash live only work with transportation agencies and cities? James: We are a video analytics platform that connects a wide range of camera types to the cloud, and with over 20+ current A.I. applications currently available in our app store (and growing fast) we service a wide range of industries such as mining, power utilities and wind farms.We primarily focus on any organization which has expensive assets dispersed over large geographies requiring visual inspections. In the case of transport and cities, the highly valuable asset is people. In Wind farms, it’s turbines inspections and in mining, it may be conveyor belts. Our solution is not limited to a fixed set of applications, use cases are constantly growing as the economics of using the same cameras to detect and inspect multiple needs is something CFO’s and CIO’s absolutely love.
Build Interactive Reports with API Analytics
Our customers love the freedom of connecting any camera type and running A.I. analytics of their choice without the need to manage local computing challenges. Another aspect customers love is the freedom to integrate the data into their workflow. Today, we are adding to our existing portfolio of output options such as live Esri dashboard, SMS, Slack, and MS Teams notifications with our Analytics API. In this article, we’re excited to share our recently released version. The analytics API exposes read-only endpoints to authorized users, allowing customers to automatically retrieve Unleash live AI. generated analytics data and custom integrations with the Unleash live ecosystem. This technical article provides a simple user case to get you started. If you want to learn more about how the Analytics API can be integrated into your business workflow, get in touch; we’d love to show you. Back to the technical. This article is also available as a notebook here if you would prefer to test the API in real-time!
World Class Scalable HD Live Streaming
Have you ever watched a sports live-stream event on your tablet and at the same time watched it on your TV? Did you notice — it is never transmitted in real-time to your internet device? In the internet streaming community, we talk about “glass-to-glass” latency. In some recent events streamed, such as the Australian Open Tennis sports event or the US presidential debates, you could see a delay of up to 90 seconds by the time the consumer watches something on his or her mobile device. At Unleash live, we connect multiple secure live camera feeds from drones, robots, and IP cameras, add A.I. analysis into the live stream, and broadcast to an authenticated global audience. We do all this with less than a second latency to our servers and often less than 10 seconds to a global internet audience. Here is an example of a use case implemented together with NVIDIA AI. Live streaming is very different from using media represented by a file, whether it be an mp4 or mov or webm file. Like most other files, this file sits on a server and can be delivered to the browser. This is often known as a progressive download. Netflix and other streaming services focus on this progressive download experience. Live-streamed media, in contrast, lacks a finite start and end time. Rather than a static file, it is a stream of data that the server passes down the line to the browser and is often adaptive. This requires different formats depending on network speed, browsers, and special server-side software to achieve this. The Mozilla Foundation provides a great overview of the complexity currently involved. Several factors induce delay: The sending device, the server, the CDN, the SSL encryption, the receiving browser, and the video player. Apple with iOS and Safari has long-backed HLS and defaults to 10-second content chunks and a certain number of packets to create a meaningful playback buffer. This results in about 30 seconds of glass-to-glass delay seconds from capture to final packet ass
Automating Railway Track Inspections
Despite the fact that rail continues to be one of the safest forms of transport, accidents continue to cause fatalities, environmental damage, injuries and infrastructure costs. Statistics are hard to get, but in 2015 alone, there were 567 incidents where Hazmat cars in the US were either damaged or derailed. In February that year, a derailment in West Virginia determined to be as a result of a broken rail track released nearly 400,000 gallons of oil and caused extensive environmental damage. Hazmat releases are not an uncommon event either, with the Federal Railroad Administration office of safety analysis quoting figures similar to 2015 occurring annually in the US since 2009. In addition to environmental costs, infrastructure damage has also remained fairly significant with approximately 3% of all incidents having a total cost of over $1m. Many rail passengers would be surprised to hear that rail tracks are still inspected visually, by an inspector walking the track and automated and monitoring systems used for softer conditions, such as track geometry deviations. There are also 4 processes followed to determine flaws: Portable test process: Operator pushes test device at walking pace Stop/start process: A vehicle detects rail flaws at low speeds (typically under 20 k/ph) Chase car process: A lead test vehicle performs the flaw detection in advance of a following verification vehicle Continuous test process: A high speed vehicle based system tests non stop, and data is later downloaded and analysed for a fault from a centralised location All processes utilise human assessment to some degree of interpretation and are therefore prone to the risks of error that come with human oversight. The list of accidents on the Federal railroad administration database is long. Check it out yourself. Train accidents by primary cause, Jan - Dec (2017 preliminary) Train accidents can be caused by equipment error, human factors and track and signal issues As part of the Rail Safety
Enterprise Real-Time Live Streaming Solution
Imagine a bustling construction site where a myriad of activities like scheduling, logistics, supply chain management and estimating are constantly in motion. These activities all have a significant chance of disruptions due to human error, that can impact costs and project timelines. By integrating Unleash live’s cutting-edge enterprise-grade live-streaming solution, the site enhances visual oversight, ensuring better coordination, operational awareness and improved safety and security measures. In another scenario, where management are trying to manage traffic more effectively, the council grants access to street cameras near the site. The operational team leverages Unleash live’s re-streaming capabilities, seamlessly blending CCTV feeds and aerial views from drones with live footage from body cameras and mobile devices. This comprehensive visual integration streams directly into the Live Stream dashboard, providing the team with complete situational awareness! “Our vision is to be the world's leading video analytics platform. Authoritative in deploying, shaping and innovating autonomous processes.” Unleash live's CEO, Hanno Blankenstein. Rapid device setup The road to achieving this vision starts with our rock-solid foundations in live streaming. Our customers have come to expect high-quality, low-latency live streaming with the ability to add new cameras onto the platform in under 2 minutes. A broad cross-section of industries, from public safety emergency services to smart cities and energy utilities, all provide live cameras (fast) and bring their dispersed experts to field operations. What are Enterprise-grade live streaming requirements? Four core tenets exist: 1. Input devices 2. output audience 3. scalability and 4. device management. A view of device management in Unleash live. Workflows may require a unique mix of UAVs, robots, handheld cameras, networked cameras, or CCTV, all playing their role to provide the clarity to take action. Simplicity for lay p
Smart Volume Measurement Comes to Unleash live
{% module_block module "widget_1686802533370" %}{% module_attribute "child_css" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}{}{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "css" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}{}{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "definition_id" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}null{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "field_types" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}{"next_text":"text","pagination_options":"choice","prev_text":"text"}{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "label" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"blog-pagination"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "module_id" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}48812490378{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "path" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"/Unleashlive_September2022/modules/blog-pagination"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "schema_version" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}2{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "smart_objects" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}[]{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "smart_type" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"NOT_SMART"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "tag" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"module"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "type" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"module"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% module_attribute "wrap_field_tag" is_json="true" %}{% raw %}"div"{% endraw %}{% end_module_attribute %}{% end_module_block %} 2D and 3D Modeling Unleash live is all about getting actionable insights from your visual data, and we are well known for real-time AI analytics on live video. However, a lesser-known component of our platform is 2D and 3D modeling. By focusing our attention on customer workflows and delivering on efficiencies as their data grows, a natural extension to our AI offering is the ability to create rich 2D, 3D, Orthomaps, and Point Clouds from drone assets. The ability to measure stockpile volu