A group of Chinese graduate students have recently engineered a new device namely, the InvisDefence coat, or commonly “the invisible cloak“. The feature that makes it a unique cloak is its ability to hide oneself from the security cameras monitored by artificial intelligence (AI). The cloak has a unique set of coding that can evade the AI security both during day and night, with the temperature altering capability that could affect the infrared night vision in the cameras. But this invisibility is limited only upto AI and can not blind human eyes. The cloak has some particular patterns on it that blind the camera during the day along with heat- generating elements to retard night infrared cameras.

“Nowadays, many surveillance devices can detect human bodies. Cameras on the road have pedestrian detection functions and smart cars can identify pedestrians, roads and obstacles. Our InvisDefense allows the camera to capture you, but it cannot tell if you are human,” Professor Wang said. Professor Wang Zheng of the school of computer science at Wuhan University has been overseeing the project.

The primary idea behind this InvisDefence is that it might be used in anti-drone combat or human-machine confrontation on the battlefields. Professor Wei mentioned that the team used algorithms to design the least conspicuous patterns that can disable computer vision. The price of the InvisDefense is less than 500 yuan which is near about 70USD.

This ‘invisibility cloak‘ acquired the students first prize in a creative work contest on November 27, sponsored by Huawei Technologies Co as part of the China Postgraduate Innovation and Practice Competitions. Moreover this project will make its place in the AAAI-23 conference to be held in Washington in February 2023. AAAI is considered one of the leading international academic conference specialized in artificial intelligence.