Chinese Education Startup Uses Biometrics to Make Sure Students are Paying Attention

The Chinese education start-up Zuoyebang brought its wares to the recent China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing. Zuoyebang develops technology for the tutoring of K-12 students, with solutions that range from livestreaming courses to miniature printers.

The company’s biometric Cocos-courseware was one of its highlights at CIFTIS 2020. Cocos is an AI-assisted livestreaming platform that pairs individual teachers with students who may be struggling. The platform uses face, gesture, and voice recognition to monitor engagement and make sure that students are giving their full attention to the screen. It can also read facial expressions and adapt to the concentration levels of each student to optimize its results.

Other products include the new Paperang P3 series of miniature printers, which was officially unveiled during CIFTIS. The Paperang P3 uses OCR text recognition to spot any mistakes that students make on their assignments, and can then print and sort them to make them easier to address.

“2020 has been a year of development and expansion,” said Zuoyebang Executive President Su Jing. “Zuoyebang is committed to creating effective digital classrooms and tools for online learners. We are focused on providing quality alternatives to in-person teaching using cutting-edge AI and big data technology.”

Zuoyebang is best known for its Famous Teacher service, and for its Cungong big data platform. Cungong filters out inappropriate language and analyzes user behavior to deliver more personalized educational experiences through the app.

In that regard, Chinese educators have previously deployed facial recognition in schools, so it’s not all that surprising to see the technology turn up in the country’s online learning programs. The country has also been using biometric surveillance to monitor students returning to dorms and university campuses.  

CIFTIS 2020 took place in person, and attracted more than 2,000 brands from all over the world. Those numbers make it China’s largest offline trade show since the outbreak of COVID-19, which forced the cancellation of several shows and pushed others towards a virtual format.

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September 16, 2020 – by Eric Weiss