Brendan Digney founded Machine Eye Technology which develops intelligent safety system while completing his final year of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast.
The technology is designed to save lives across a range of industries and can be deployed on farms, in quarries and industrial sites. These types of industries have some of the worst fatality and serious injury rates in the UK. Brendans work aims to stop life changing injuries being an unfortunate norm.
The company aims to build a safer, more sustainable environment by applying AI technology to stop dangerous incidents occurring. The technology is just one way in which Engineering is moving towards a more autonomous future, and Machine Eye Technology is well placed to help improve future interactions between humans and industrial machines.
MachineEye uses computer vision, underpinned by AI algorithms, to accurately sense the environment around the machine, and understand the presence of any risks.
Being able to give sight to a machine in this manner increases accuracy, eliminating a lot of the errors and challenges encountered by traditional sensing systems such as radar systems, which struggle with the variability and environmental conditions on farms and industrial sites. It means the system can identify a person, determine if they are at risk, and take appropriate action to warn both the operator and at risk person.
The Fellowship was awarded to Brendan by Andrew Everett, CEO and Executive Secretary of the ERA Foundation on March 14th at an event held at the Royal Academy of Engineering. The 2021 award was agreed in November 2020 but delayed due to the pandemic.
The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowships programme is designed to support innovative, creative, entrepreneurial exceptional engineers who want to develop further. The programme is built around equipping the awardees with the skills, confidence and experience develop their innovative ideas.
Each Fellowship provides equity-free funding as well as a tailored mentoring and training regime; help with PR, marketing and promotion; and access to The Royal Academy of Engineerings drop-in workspace in central London. To date the academy has provided training, mentoring and £4.5 million seed funding to 137 Enterprise Fellows (‘Hub Members’).
