December 5th, 2023 is the 38th International Volunteer Day, and it can be said that volunteers make silent contributions in various fields. Here we come to know a group of young volunteers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. They leverage their expertise in respective fields to provide technical support for families searching for their missing children, illuminating the path back home for these lost little ones.
At the School of Software Engineering(SSE)of Huazhong University of Science and Technology(HUST), volunteers from theBaby Searching with AI volunteer team are communicating with the Public Welfare Organization of Missing Children Searching to get information of those missing children and image restoring progress, and to match the photo information. Not long ago, they received a new request for help, hoping to use AI image restoring technology to simulate current appearance of a lost child based on a photo from a few years ago.
Sheng Jianzhong, the leader of the volunteer team Baby Searching with AI from SSE of HUST,pointed out that the previous search heavily relied on man power, resulting in relatively low efficiency and success rate. Moreover, due to the absence of high-definition photographs in the face matching system of the public security organ, the probability of finding a match is extremely low, with some match rates nearly reaching 0%. Essentially, there are no viable DNA candidates for matching.
Developing image restoring algorithms to build a social model for missing children searching.
In 2020, Sheng Jianzhong, who was still pursuing his PhD back then, saw missing children searching information on the internet. He found that most of the photos of missing children were blurred and damaged, rendering themdifficult to recognize, so he came up with the idea of employing his expertise to aid in the search for missing children.
Sheng Jianzhong said:At that time, we thought how can they find their child with such a blurred photo? And considering my own study of digital image processing, we thought we could use our knowledge to help them do a photo restoration through research and development of image restoring algorithms.
To develop image restoring algorithms, you need to build a huge database, relying on only one person's strength is far from enough, many students see Sheng Jianzhong’s efforts, also took the initiative to join in coding and testing algorithms. Sheng Jianzhong and the team spent half a year to focus on research, and finally developed a set of image restoring artificial intelligence algorithms, the use of "global repair","face enhancement"and"super-resolution reconstruction" three major technical applications, to solve the "blurred face" in the family photo which is a core problemin missing children searching. Sheng Jianzhong showed reporters the process of photo restoration by algorithms :puta blurred picture into the system, a few minutes later, a repaired picture will be automatically generated, the clarity and resolution of facial features have been greatly improved. In this way, many parents can print the lost child's photo on the clothes, or print a huge poster to post.
Sheng Jianzhong, the captain of the volunteer team Baby Searchingwith AI from SSE of HUST, said:the left oneis the original picture before repair, itis only 13KB, and then after we repaired it, it is 52 (MB), and the resolution is 8400*10944. After their photos are repaired, they can be made into industrial prints.
Sheng Jianzhong and volunteers also built a social model of missing children searching, they actively contact the public security organs, public welfare organizations to carry out cooperative missing children searching, to enhance the accuracy of the technical investigation of missing children searching.They also use the repaired photo to make tape which used in courier parcels, and design and produce missing children postcard, video, etc., to facilitate the spread of information about missing children to pool the strength of the whole society.
Baby Searching with AI volunteer team captain from SSE of HUST,Sheng Jianzhong,said: We use this kind of information to start a applet, which is also a small online community where they can leave some messages on it to encourage each other and share clues to help each other find their children. It is a channel of communication with each other, on their hearts is also a comfort. It can mobilize everyone to participate in the lost children searching, so as to form a community of extensive social participation. The whole society is involved.
With the help of AI technology, 11 missing children were reunited with their families.
In December 2021, Sun Haiyang, the prototype of the character in the movie "My Dear", finally found his lostson Sun Zhuo after 14 years of hard searching. Behind the reunion of Sun haiyang and Sun Zhuo, there is also a part of the efforts of Sheng Jianzhong's team. Three years since the establishment of Baby Searching with AI Volunteer Team, with the help of AI image restoring technology, it has already restored the photos of more than 1,000 missing children, and has helped 11 missing children to be reunited with their families successfully. Every successfully restored photo and every family reunion has allowed the volunteers to harvest touching and happiness in serving others and the society.
Zhang Shaoyun,the vice captain of the volunteer team Baby Searching with AI from SSE of HUST,said: What we have done is behind a machine or code, we rarely get touch with those parents who are searching for their kids, in fact, they do not know our existence, they only know that there are some kindly people in the community to help them to fix the photo.But even if they don't know in the end that we helped them with this, we still feel it's very meaningful, we still experience an overwhelming sense of happiness and satisfaction deep within our hearts.
Chen Zhaohao, the head of the publicity department of the Baby Searching with AI volunteer teamat SSE, HUST, said: What impressed me the most was our missing children video, and many comments made me very heartwarming. They said that this is where AI can truly be useful. The career I am currently engaged in can bring warmth to others. I have met a group of like-minded and enthusiastic classmates who are committed to public welfare. Together, we have completed a project that is beneficial for finding lost childrenin society. It is a joy in life, and in the future, I will continue to apply our technology to more lost children searching program, bringing hope for finding children to them.
