(right) Rahmadilla Primasiwi Nugraha, (from top left) Ilul Rohman, Hartandi Wisnumukti, (from bottom left) Irfan Dhiarinda Hamdi, and Rizqullah Fadhil Rafi as the team that initiated the I-Mask innovation

ITS Campus, ITS News – Indonesia is declared the first country in Southeast Asia with the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19. This made a team of students from the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Computer Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) take the initiative to reduce the number of Covid-19 deaths I-Mask innovation.

The I-Mask team consists of five students, namely Rahmadilla Primasiwi Nugraha, Ilul Rohman, and Hartandi Wisnumukti from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Irfan Dhiarinda Hamdi and Rizqullah Fadhil Rafi from the ITS Computer Engineering Department. The five of them succeeded in initiating a mask detection system using Machine Learning and integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor the use of masks in a place called I-Mask.

As the team leader, Rahmadilla Primasiwi Nugraha or Dilla, as she is usually called, said the average number of positive people with Covid-19 per day in Indonesia reached 5,712 people. This, according to her, makes the current use of masks very important because they can protect themselves from the spread of the virus.

Rahmadilla Primasiwi Nugraha, the head of the ITS student team who initiated I-Mask, shows a picture of her team’s work.

However, continued Dilla, the awareness of the Indonesian people in wearing masks is only around 59.32 percent. “This figure is considered quite small, so the idea emerged to initiate this I-Mask as an effort to raise awareness among the public,” she said.

More profoundly, Dilla explained, this I-Mask was designed to minimize the transmission of Covid-19, supporting the implementation of a new everyday life which is now underway, as well as reminding the importance of using masks. In addition, according to Dilla, I-Mask can also facilitate the government in promoting the process of monitoring the use of community masks in a place.

The appearance of the I-Mask application made by the ITS student team

Dilla explained how I-Mask works begin with the detection process by the system whether the person is wearing a mask or not. This detection video will later be sent to a cloud server that is integrated with an application. So that people who are not wearing masks will be detected and cannot enter the space designed to be combined with an automatic door. “So the door only opens for those who wear masks, and an alarm sounds for those who are detected not wearing masks,” continued the student from Malang.

Interestingly, continued Dilla, the I-Mask application has several features that provide information about the conditions of a place. Starting from the number of visitors, weekly reports of the number of visitors to the area, the location of the I-Mask system installed, live updates from camera capture, to statistical data showing the conditions of the place. “So that visitors know whether the place has met health protocol standards or not,” she explained.

Various features of the I-Mask application help reduce transmission of Covid-19.

Dilla added that the I-Mask made by her team could be said to have various advantages, such as making it easier to monitor the use of masks in a place. In addition, the production and maintenance price of I-Mask is not too high; the system operating time is 24 hours, so that monitoring data is real-time, space-saving, and very practical. “These various advantages make the I-Mask innovation not possessed by other similar innovation ideas,” said this 2018 class student.

The hard work of the I-Mask team has resulted in proud achievements. The innovation entitled I-Mask: Mask Detection System using Machine Learning and Integrated with IoT for Monitoring the Use of Masks in a Place successfully led the team guided by Arief Kurniawan ST MT as the first winner 2021 International IoT Challenge.

In the competition held by Universitas Sebelas Maret Surakarta (UNS) on 23 May, the I-Mask team managed to get rid of 79 innovations worldwide while outperforming King Mongkuts Institute of Technology Ladkrabang from Thailand, who was crowned as the second winner.

The ITS I-Mask Team was announced as the first winner in the 2021 International IoT Challenge

In the future, this alumnus of SMAN 1 Malang hopes that the I-Mask made by her team can be further developed so that this innovation can be more perfect and can be produced to help the Indonesian nation. “Hopefully, this tool can be useful for the wider community in reducing the spread of Covid-19 and giving them a sense of security in a new normal life,” she said hopefully. (far/ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Mukhammad Akbar Makhbubi