The 2nd pilot of the VANGUARD EU project took place on March 4th, 2026, at IASI Airport, under the leadership of the Romanian Border Police (RBP). The pilot focused on supporting border guard and police authorities in their decision-making at airports, showcasing how cutting-edge technology can enhance intelligence, enable the early identification of victims and perpetrators, and strengthen their capabilities in conducting interviews and identifying signs of human trafficking through innovative training.
More than 20 end-users from police and border guard authorities participated in the pilot demonstration and were asked to evaluate the second ππ²πΏππΆπΌπ» πΌπ³ ππ΅π² π©ππ‘ππ¨ππ₯π π§πΌπΌπΉπ¦ππΆππ², featuring:
- Emotion Recognition for estimating the emotional state of a subject of interest based on the analysis of their facial expressions;
- Body Posture Recognition for estimating the emotional state of a subject of interest through the analysis of their body pose;
- Thermal Face Emotion Recognition for estimating basic facial emotions using heat emissions captured from the subjectsβ faces;
- Human Detection and Re-Identification for detecting, re-identifying, and monitoring persons of interest across multiple surveillance cameras;
- Face Recognition Module for recognising potential victims of trafficking, including in cases where facial injuries or alterations are present;
- Risk Assessment for assessing risks potentially associated with human trafficking activities;
- Predictive Analytics for predicting potential future human trafficking activities and monitoring trends, providing insights from historical data to support understanding and decision-making; and
- VR-based serious game for training to enhance police and border guard authoritiesβ capabilities in conducting interviews and identifying indicators of human trafficking.
Thoughtful discussions and constructive feedback were provided by the end-users during the pilot demonstration, as they were presented with solutions directly responding to real-world law enforcement needs in fighting trafficking in human beings, especially at the exploitation stages.