Pune: The forest department’s Junnar division is currently working with a city-based organisation to develop and implement an artificial intelligence system to prevent leopard attacks. This system can be easily attached to CCTV cameras on sugar cane farms to alert villagers and forest officials of leopard sightings . The department had previously installed an AI system in the region, which was deemed successful.
It was primarily installed at Bori village along a road frequented by leopards. Considering the cost efficiency, the division has been planning to implement a more localised system. “Most of the attacks in the region have taken place near residential areas.
Children have been picked up by leopards. This system is being installed to ensure that such incidents do not occur,” said a senior forest department official. Most farmers in the region have installed CCTVs near their farms.
The AI model developed by Sunil Chore, chairman and managing director of Simusoft Technologies, consists of a high-profile microcontroller in a GPU-based minicomputer, which will be placed close to the cameras. The model, to be trained with deep learning, will include a vast database of leopards, behavioural aspects, coat colour, eye movement, and much more. The department and the SimuSoft team are developing a cloud-based web and mobile application for inclusion of all hotspots of leopard conflicts, details regarding recent movements in areas, time, region of leopard sighting or trappin.