Experimental Measures Against Bears Using Drones, AI; System Distinguishes Bear from Costume, Mistakes Bear Face for Cat

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:36 JST, November 21, 2024

AKITA — A demonstration experiment was conducted in Akita Prefecture to test a system using artificial intelligence (AI) for real-time analysis of images taken by a drone to detect bears concealed in the mountains. Development is underway with the aim of commercializing the system in 2026.

The demonstration test was conducted by a development team consisting of members from a drone training school in Gojome in the prefecture, as well as other entities. The drone is equipped with an infrared camera and wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The AI will be used to analyze the images taken to detect bears.

In the test conducted in Gojome on Nov. 12, the drone flew at an altitude of about 30 meters and took pictures of a person in work clothes, a person in a bear costume and images of a black bear which had been displayed on a monitor. The results showed that the AI was generally correct, recognizing the bear costume as a teddy bear and the black bear on the monitor as a bear, thought it did misidentify the image showing only the bear’s face, with its body hidden, as a cat.

According to the development team, the error was caused by the lack of video data of bears learned by the AI, which can be improved by further training the AI in the future.