Raising money for charity can take a more creative approach, Aware has designed the first iteration of its ‘Battle Mo’ units that use AI to scan your “Moustache”, compare it to the style and give it a rating.
“By encouraging people to donate and receive something in return, we aim to encourage a greater social participation in the Movember Challenge,” Aware Group CEO Brandon Hutcheson says.
The first unit was deployed outside renowned Mr Pickles in Hamilton’s CBD on the Waikato River and is being used to scan the final Moustaches after the close of Movember, likely through to Xmas.
The goal is to use this technology to draw attention and raise funds for Movember by each ‘Battle Mo’ card printed with ‘Moustache’ information and competing values. It will contribute $5 directly to the Movember charity to raise funding and awareness of mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. These issues are critical to men globally, but especially in New Zealand where we suffer from one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD.
Local sponsors in Aware Group, ASB Bank Hamilton, Tompkins Wake and Stark Property have facilitated this becoming a possibility through their donations.
The interactive booth uses computer vision to measure the attributes of users’ moustaches and generates a unique photobooth print out styled like popular trading cards.
The stats, names and descriptions of the cards are all unique and allow visitors of the booth to compare their Battle Mo’s in a friendly competition.
The next goal is for 2023 to have around 50-60 of these Battle Mo units deployed around New Zealand encouraging a giant ‘Mo’ battle-off, allowing Movember participants from around the country to compete.
