Why your palm could be safer than fingerprints or facial recognition
Amazon and Apple both have patents for palm scanners and Chinese startups have already started using the tech in locks and vending machines
Biometrics are increasingly used for identification and mobile payments, but most current systems face limitations and concerns about privacy. Maybe you’ve worried about your facial data being held by various tech companies or hesitated about pressing your finger on a dirty scanner at border checks.
Touchless palm verification is one piece of tech that might be able to address these problems. Palm recognition systems work by identifying vein patterns and lines and creases on the hand’s surface, ideally using cameras and infrared to avoid contact.
Another security advantage for palm recognition is that it’s difficult to steal when the target is dead. Liang said subcutaneous palm vein patterns can only be captured under infrared light when the subject is alive, giving the system an inherent anti-spoofing ability.
Some startups in China have already started bringing this technology to market, although not on a large scale.
I hoped to learn more about the development of these products, but no one from DeepBlue was available to comment before Chinese New Year. Melux didn’t respond to a request for comment.
American tech companies are working on palm recognition, too.
Many patented technologies never see the light of day. But even beyond security concerns, Liang said palm recognition has a variety of advantages over facial and fingerprint recognition.
Fingerprint identification can’t be used when fingers are wet and is unusable for certain people like construction workers, whose fingerprints could be worn out from daily work, he said. And a stained contact surface after being touched many times can also lead to unstable imaging.
But even though palm recognition tech exists today, it might not be ready for widespread use.
Another issue, according to Liang, is that palm recognition is more complicated and more expensive to make.
“Its requirement for device development is a little higher than face and fingerprint identification systems,” Liang said. “I think this is a reason why palmprint identification hasn’t been as popular.”
The reason is that palms have finer details than faces and a larger area to identify than fingers, he said. Images also need to be captured at a specific distance with good lighting. That requires customized imaging modules and deep cooperation with camera module manufacturers.
Another reason it’s not as popular is that there aren’t any large-scale palmprint datasets available, according to Liang.
“For handling different palm shapes and postures, a large-scale palmprint database is urgently needed,” he said. “In this age, all smart systems are driven by big data.”
Liang also said that citizens in China all have to register their face and fingerprints with the police, and they’ve gotten used to face and fingerprint recognition systems at border checks. The government doesn’t have such support for palm-based systems, so there isn’t the necessary publicity and capital investment for palm recognition to take off.
But there could still be a future for it.
“I think the situation is getting better since more and more companies and organizations have paid attention to palmprint identification,” Liang said.