Intel-powered 'TrailGuard AI' tech is helping track poachers in Africa

An Intel-powered AI system is helping boost anti-poaching measures in Africa. Non-profit company RESOLVE has deployed TrailGuard AI cameras in wildlife reserves and is using them to alert park rangers to the presence of potential poachers in a region.Researchers and scientists have been using motion-triggered cameras for years. In fact, your home security system is very likely triggered by motion sensors. These cameras are placed at strategic points in, say, a wildlife reserve, and whenever there’s any motion, the camera is triggered and an image is captured. Such techniques help keep tabs on animals in the wild.Since these cameras are placed all over the place, they can serve as a means for tracking poachers as well. However, the problem with such a system is that it’s not intelligent. Since the camera is triggered by motion, it could be triggered by the wind rustling through the leaves, an animal, a human or even a vehicle. Sorting through such data will take forever and by the time a poacher is identified, it might be too late.[caption id="attachment_5835481" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

TrailGuard AI takes advantage of Intel's Movidius chips for image processing. Image: Intel[/caption]TrailGuard AI helps deal with this issue. Essentially, algorithms scan images captured by these cameras and classify them. Any image that contains a human or vehicle, which could indicate the presence of poachers in that area, triggers an alert that park rangers can respond to.To make the system work, TrailGuard uses Intel’s Movidius Vision Processing Units (VPUs). These are ultra-low power processors that can handle computer vision and AI-related tasks on low-power devices like trail cameras and drones.According to RESOLVE, 35,000 elephants are killed every year. At this rate, they claim, elephants will be extinct within a decade. Animals like Tigers and Rhinos are also in danger of dying out.The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation provided “critical funding” for the prototypes.The TrailGuard AI tech will be deployed in 100 reserves in Africa by 2019.