Cape Town - Associate professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Amir Patel, is using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the health status of wildlife. This project is set to change the ecology and conservation management in South Africa.
Patel is based at UCT’s department of electrical engineering, and was recently named the recipient of the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) Fellowship Award.
Patel will use the funds associated with this award to fast-track his latest work during his sabbatical at the University of Oxford next year.
“I’m still in a bit of shock that I’ve been awarded the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Fellowship Award for the second time. I am beyond excited to spend my sabbatical at the University of Oxford to accelerate this project,” he said.
Patel’s project has developed as a response to an increasing amount of wild animals contracting diseases from humans and domestic animals.
He said it was difficult to monitor animals in the wild, because it requires drawing blood and assessing droppings, and this resource-intensive assessment does not allow for rapid disease identification and intervention.
“The plan is to employ techniques traditionally used in robotics such as computer vision, machine learning, mechanical modelling and sensor fusion, to remotely measure the vital signs of wildlife,” he said.
He has already started the data-collection process and developed the algorithms to accurately monitor lions, as a first attempt.
“Lions – an endangered species – can contract canine distemper from domestic dogs or bovine tuberculosis from cattle, which can then spread through a pride if not detected early,” Patel said.
Patel has spent a lot of time developing systems to understand the biometrics of wildlife and his latest project is an extension of his work so far. He hopes studying wildlife through a robotic lens will provide insight into their well-being.
His technology will provide ecologists and veterinarians with an early warning system to help them detect if an animal is ill, which in turn could help prevent the spread of a disease through the animal population and back to humans.