About Us | COVICAM

COVICAM was founded in 2020, by Shane O’Brien and Rory Downes, both 4^th Year Students at the Institute of Technology Carlow. It was developed to fill the void between the cheap, widely adopted Infrared Thermometer (IRT) and the expensive industrial Thermal scanners that are used for fever detection. Fever testing has been a critical aspect of Covid-19 case detection as it is one of the first and most commonly reported indicators of the virus.

The currently used handheld non-contact InfraRed (IR) thermometer for temperature screening is usually conducted in crowded places such as hospitals and airports. This method requires close proximity (less than one metre) between the operator or healthcare workers, and the test subject’s forehead. These conditions increase the probability of transmitting and spreading the virus. Maintaining a two-metre distance between people is one of the public health restrictions enforced by authorities to curb the effects of coronavirus.

Covicam circumvents the need for such a close proximity temperature test by utilizing a thermographic camera technology (or IR camera). Portable thermal imaging cameras facilitate body temperature measurement at a recommended social distance of two metres. Thermal imaging cameras rely on a combination of sensors and circuits to create a usable image that can be clearly viewed on a screen. Until Covicam such a solution was extremely expensive and not seen as a feasible solution to the general market.

We aim to fill that void by offering a cost-effective alternative to the IR thermometers while still remaining affordable . Covicam has advantage of being able to take snapshots of thermal readings on demand and instantly share or save to file. Effectively cataloguing the readings so as to monitor fever status with the client’s consent, as per GDPR regulation. At Covicam we believe no matter the social stature, everybody has an equal right to protect their health and the wellbeing of those around them.