Australia is well-known for its beaches, but it’s also
infamous for its many sharks. Shark sightings and attacks are fairly common in
the Land Down Under, and now a new solution seeks to help keep beach-goers
safe.
Starting next month, battery-powered drones will be monitoring some of
Australia’s beaches. Assisted by artificial intelligence, the drones are the
next step in improving safety in and around the waters, Tech Wire Asia reports.
The drones are called The Little Ripper Lifesavers, and serve as an advanced
warning system that gives a live video feed to an operator. The operator then
utilizes a software that can spot sharks to point out if there are any in the
water, with much more accuracy than human eyes.
The software, called
SharkSpotter, can reportedly detect the predators as the drone patrols over the
waters. First developed using artificial intelligence and neural networks, the
software makes use of a world-first algorithm that can correctly tell sharks
apart from other marine creatures, and from boats and humans.
The system
likewise uses aerial videos of sharks to train the algorithm to differentiate
between sharks and similar-looking creatures like whales or dolphins.
A
megaphone is attached to each drone, allowing it to issue a loud warning to
swimmers if there are any sharks lurking in the area. According to studies,
people have a 20-30% accuracy rate when it comes to interpreting aerial images
to look for shark activity. The software can boost that rate to as much as 90%,
says Nabin Sharma, a research associate at the University of Technology
Sydney’s School of Software.
Sharma adds,
It’s not about replacing human beings
altogether, it’s about assisting human beings to get the work done in a better
way with more accuracy. That’s what the application is meant for.
The
university started the project in 2016, in tandem with the Little Ripper Group,
a commercial UAV company. Paul Scully-Power, co-founder of the Little Ripper
Group, said the drone is also capable of deploying a life raft and emergency
beacon. “I guess the world has learned many years ago – defense in depth is the
way to go. So this is one of the layers of the depth,” Scully-Power says.
