Introduction
Welcome to the African Human Face with Occlusion Dataset, carefully curated to support the development of robust facial recognition systems, occlusion detection models, biometric identification technologies, and KYC verification tools. This dataset provides real-world variability by including facial images with common occlusions, helping AI models perform reliably under challenging conditions.
Facial Image Data
The dataset comprises over 5,000 high-quality facial images, organized into participant-wise sets. Each set includes:
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Occluded Images:
5 images per individual featuring different types of facial occlusions, masks, caps, sunglasses, or combinations of these accessories
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Normal Image:
1 reference image of the same individual without any occlusion
Diversity & Representation
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Geographic Coverage:
Participants from across Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Benin, Somalia, Uganda, and more African countries
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Demographics:
Individuals aged 18 to 70 years, with a 60:40 male-to-female ratio
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File Formats:
Images available in JPEG and HEIC formats
Image Quality & Capture Conditions
To ensure robustness and real-world utility, images were captured under diverse conditions:
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Lighting Variations:
Includes both natural and artificial lighting scenarios
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Background Diversity:
Indoor and outdoor backgrounds for model generalization
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Device Quality:
Captured using the latest smartphones to ensure high resolution and consistency
Metadata
Each image is paired with detailed metadata to enable advanced filtering, model tuning, and analysis:
This rich metadata helps train models that can recognize faces even when partially obscured.
Use Cases & Applications
This dataset is ideal for a wide range of real-world and research-focused applications, including:
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Facial Recognition under Occlusion:
Improve model performance when faces are partially hidden
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Occlusion Detection:
Train systems to detect and classify facial accessories like masks or sunglasses
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Biometric Identity Systems:
Enhance verification accuracy across varying conditions
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KYC & Compliance:
Support face matching even when the selfie includes common occlusions.
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Security & Surveillance:
Strengthen access control and monitoring systems in environments with mask usage
Secure & Ethical Collection
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Data Security:
Collected and processed securely on FutureBeeAI’s proprietary platform
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Ethical Compliance:
Follows strict guidelines for participant privacy and informed consent
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Transparent Participation:
All contributors provided written consent and were informed of the intended use
Dataset Updates & Customization
To accommodate evolving AI needs, this dataset is continuously updated and fully customizable. Available customization options include:
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Backgrounds:
Indoor or outdoor scenes based on project needs
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Lighting Conditions:
Custom lighting setups (e.g., daylight, low light)
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Time of Day:
Captures taken in morning, afternoon, evening, or night
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Resolution:
Image quality tailored to specific model or application requirements
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Annotations:
Add facial landmarks, bounding boxes, or other semantic labels upon request
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Device-Specific Collection:
Data collection using specified mobile brands or operating systems
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Custom Occlusions:
Generate datasets with specific occlusion types (e.g., helmets, scarves, face shields)
License
This dataset is developed by FutureBeeAI and is available for commercial use.