Gesture-based age estimation tool BorderAge joins Australia age assurance trial

Australia’s age assurance technology trial is testing the new biometric tool that performs age estimation based on hand gestures.

The French company Needemand will have its BorderAge product formally tested by the Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS) for the Australian government’s trial of age assurance technologies. The ACCS has previously verified Needemand’s internal testing, which has found BorderAge’s machine learning algorithms to be 99 percent accurate, tested against footage of tens of thousands of sets of hands of all ages.

ACCS CEO Tony Allen also mentioned BorderAge’s tech in his disposition to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is ruling on a Texas age assurance law that could have major ramifications for similar legislation across the country.

Now, BorderAge will join the list of tools – largely face biometrics, spanning both age verification and age estimation methods  – being given an official test-run down under.

Jean Michel Polit, the company’s chief business officer, says he expects the ACCS testing to begin in March or April. Meanwhile, Needemand continues to ramp up operations, having purchased its own private servers for data processing.

The firm has also made modifications to BorderAge based on feedback from a porn company (which cannot be named under a non-disclosure agreement.) The interface now requires fewer click-throughs and the UX has been simplified.

Originally born out of research on a tool to test for doping in sports, BorderAge works on the principle that as we age, our body changes – and so do the ways that we move. Technically, it measures variations among people of different ages in the duration and distance of “rapid aimed limb movements toward a visible target region.”

The process can be completed with less than 30 seconds of footage from a smartphone camera.

Article Topics

Age Assurance Technology Trial  |  Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS)  |  age verification  |  Australia  |  biometrics  |  BorderAge  |  hand biometrics  |  Needemand