(Nomad Go Image)

Nomad Go had its Apollo 13 moment.

The Seattle startup wanted to help physical retailers in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The company has traditionally sold computer vision software that aims to improve operational efficiency inside stores, but the pandemic and resulting new safety protocols added another layer of complexity for its customers.

Nomad Go CEO David Greschler. (Nomad Go Photo)

“We felt like the Apollo 13 engineers, leveraging what we had to come up with a new solution,” said CEO David Greschler.

Nomad Go just released “HealthySpaces,” a new product that provides real-time data on store occupancy and density counts, and also measures mask and social distancing compliance.

“As we talked with companies about their back to work strategies, it became clear that the same technology we use to get as many people through a space as fast as possible could also be used to do the reverse — ensure that only a limited number of people enter, and are distanced from each other,” Greschler said. “So we developed new metrics, and also built new computer vision models to meet new requirements, like mask detection.”

The computer vision models run locally on Nomad Go’s edge computing hardware and the anonymous data is not saved in the cloud to enhance privacy, Greschler added.

The company is also partnering with ATS Automation to connect its data to building management systems to better control ventilation and air quality.

Other companies such as Zebra and Voxel51 are rolling out similar monitoring products. Amazon said it is using internal camera systems to monitor social distancing insides its warehouses.

Nomad Go’s tech is deployed in more than 100 locations nationwide. The 4-year-old company raised $2.7 million in September from Flying Fish Partners, Fitz Gate Ventures and Vulcan Capital.

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