Among the recent efforts is Robotics Cats, an AI start-up that has just been recognised as a “top innovator” by the World Economic Forum’s platform UpLink during its Annual Meeting of the New Champions in the mainland Chinese city of Dalian in June. Andre Cheung Wai-kin, the start-up founder, said his team had approached the sector in Hong Kong to explore joint partnerships to power conservation and habitat management with AI. With a system involving advanced surveillance cameras, users can detect wildfires and birds and conduct real-time habitat monitoring.
It consists of an automated wildfire detection tool that identifies early-stage wildfires through computer vision and deep learning, drawing from a myriad of more than 500,000 wildfire images. Similarly, the other AI bird detection system employs thousands of photos to identify species and conduct automated counting. To test it out, the company has partnered with a local conservation group since September 2023 in a 12-month pilot project to conduct AI-powered biodiversity management in wetland habitats in the New Territories.
The habitat was remotely monitored during the record black rainstorm warning last September. “We were glad that the roosting water birds appeared unharmed by the inclement weather,” Cheung said. “This experience allowed us to assess the system’s effectiveness in certain scenarios.
” The company also previously partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong (WWF) in a 15-month .