The unblinking eye of Poseidon

[ivyfic]

In more news of the useless, I got an email from my highschool informing me that they have installed the Poseidon system in the school's swimming pools. This is a sophisticated system of underwater cameras that use "mathematical algorithms and patented camera, texture, and stereo-vision techniques that 'instruct' the central processor to act accordingly in real time." That is, if it detects someone drowning (based on what criteria, I do not know), it sets off an alarm and shows (on the scoreboard!) exactly where in the pool the "drowning" person is so the lifeguard can respond.

Really? I mean, really? We need a sophisticated camera system to monitor for drowning people in a pool that, as far as I know, no one has ever drowned in? And it's not like it replaces the lifeguard. All it does is sound an alarm, you still need the lifeguard to come to the rescue. So it's just a really expensive toy that does the exact job the lifeguard is already doing.

And it gets better: "Kuta acknowledged that the system set off a number of false alarms." I'm just imagining water polo practice with this thing going off every five minutes. "Who did it this time? I told you people, big brother gets very upset if you stop treading water!"

The article concluded with this: "Poseidon 'went live' in late September, making Phillips Academy the only independent school in the nation to have such a sophisticated aquatic safety system in place."

Do you want to know why that is? Because it is EXPENSIVE and USELESS. I really hope some crazy rich person donated this system because I cannot believe Andover would actually spend part of its endowment to put cameras in the pool.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I guess I can kind of see this being useful in a crowded community pool, where there are a lot of kids splashing around and having one go limp might be missed for that critical minute or two. (But would the system work under those conditions?) I don't really see that being so much an issue at a high school pool.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I could see it in some sort of gymnasium setting where there were mutiple pools and one lifeguard; or possibly a hotel/resort with a large pool and a lot of people, including lots of kids with inattentive parents. Less a crowd issue so much as a large space with a lot of moving parts and only one set of eyes actually watching them.

But yeah, high school pool? Sounds more to me like a CYA vs lawsuits.

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Hilarious :) This is the sort of thing you expect a multimillionaire semiretired geek to put in his pool.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA. That's funny. At my old public school, they've installed a sophisticated metal detector. :)