AI sorts prey from predators
An animal photo booth is using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect small and hard to find species – sorting pests from prey.
CritterPic, a trademarked animal detection system, was developed by Kiwi pest control company Critter Solutions after it realised how time-consuming and labour-intensive finding small species was in the field.
Birds, mice, lizards, skinks and more have all taken their turn posing in the booth.
Five years into a trial, Dr Helen Blackie and Dr Kenji Irie, the brains behind the booth, said rollout of the technology was planned for next year.
The booth was designed as a monitoring and surveillance tool, Blackie said.
It used camera technology to take close-up photos of small species.
Thanks to its AI technology, as an animal walked into the booth, an image was sent in real-time to users, alerting them of species of interest – either pests or native threatened species.
The technology for the booth had been adapted into AI kill traps, so that the trap could make an in-the-moment decision on which species it was interacting with it and trigger the trap if it was a pest, Blackie said.
‘‘This ensures our native wildlife are safe whilst specifically targeting pests.’’
As well as pest control, there were lots of lizards, frogs and invertebrates that could be difficult to find in New Zealand, so the technology helped to make assessments of these populations.
While the photos taken made up the core of the technology, they also served to engage conservation and community
groups who logged in to see the species they were detecting, Blackie said.
‘‘The key is to make [AI] practical for long-life deployment and usage.’’
It helped in the move towards remote, real-time and automated detection and control of pest species, which had been seen as the ‘‘holy grail’’ for many years, as it vastly improved the ability to detect and control pests over large areas.
Trials for the devices are beginning soon on the Great Barrier Reef islands as a detection and surveillance tool for island biosecurity and conservation.