Face Recognition-Based Automatic Attendance System in a Smart Classroom

Abstract

The smart classroom is a fully automated classroom where repetitive tasks, including attendance registration, are automatically performed. Due to recent advances in artificial intelligence, traditional attendance registration methods have become challenging. These methods require significant time and effort to complete the process. Therefore, researchers have sought alternative ways to accomplish attendance registration. These methods include identification cards, radio frequency, or biometric systems. However, all of these methods have faced challenges in safety, accuracy, effort, time, and cost. The development of digital image processing techniques, specifically face recognition technology, has enabled automated attendance registration. Face recognition technology is considered the most suitable for this process due to its ability to recognize multiple faces simultaneously. This study developed an integrated attendance registration system based on the YOLOv7 algorithm, which extracts features and recognizes students’ faces using a specially collected database of 31 students from Mustansiriyah University. A comparative study was conducted by applying the YOLOv7 algorithm, a machine learning algorithm, and a combined machine learning and deep learning algorithm. The proposed method achieved an accuracy of up to 100%. A comparison with previous studies demonstrated that the proposed method is promising and reliable for automating attendance registration.