Mohit and Soniya, 2 students from Rajasthan, noticed that the farmers in their native village were struggling to protect their crops from animals. Fighting the cold they were spending nights, sleepless on farmlands away from their homes to protect their crops. These young hearts were disturbed and they started thinking. Thus came into being the idea of AI-Scarecrow. They designed a concept, a scarecrow, but not the usual kind. “This can be placed anywhere on the field. It will detect the movement of the animals. If it finds that the intruders are causing harm to the crops cultivated, it emits a siren sound”. Says Mohit Taylor and Soniya Mishra, winners of National Program for Government Schools: Responsible AI for Youth, 2020.

In an agrarian economy like India, where a large amount of the population depend on farming and related mode of living, issues of wild animals, birds and other unwanted trespassers has always been a source of concern. The manual limit of solving the issue is being rectified by these young minds by leaping with the help of AI. 

The technology behind AI Scarecrow:

Based on the Computer Vision domain, the AI Scarecrow functions using YoloV3 which is a real-time object detection algorithm that plays an integral role in detecting animals with incredible accuracy. Open CV and other open-source libraries have also been incorporated to capture real-time images of the animals and birds which are found lurking around the farmland and process them. This model which can be deployed anywhere on the field, will not only aid the farmers in protecting their crops but will also save time and resources. Future enhancements can also be made to the model by adding a camera that will monitor the field 24/7 and will detect any unwanted entry into the field. Apart from emitting the sound, it will be able to move its body and other parts which resemble like a person moving towards the animals. According to Mohit, even though they have not tried the practical installation process of the model, it will be affordable for the common man.

Path to Responsible AI:

Mohit and Soniya, when submitted their project were selected for the Responsible AI for Youth program 2020 by the National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and Intel India. The national-level program aimed at the government schools across India is intended to make the youth AI-ready and to reduce the AI skill gap in India. Out of 58000 ideas presented, 125 projects were selected and they qualified for the first phase. After going through rigorous AI training under Intel AI for Youth coaches and domain experts on the core AI technologies, for approximately 2 months, 50 projects were selected for the second phase. Among 50, final top 20 projects including the concept of AI Scarecrow, were selected and exhibited in front of esteemed dignitaries Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India; Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways of India; Nivruti Rai, Country Head- Intel India; Rakesh Asthana, Police Commissioner, Delhi; Abhishek Singh IAS, CEO of NeGD; Ajay Sawhney, Secretary of MeitY. 

Mohit Taylor and Soniya Mishra at Responsible AI for Youth, 2020

“The whole process of Responsible AI which lasted for more than a year was a great opportunity for us. Despite being conducted during COVID-19 pandemic, we did not experience any difficulty all through the program”. Mohit stated while in conversation with INDIAai. 

A look into the future:

Mohit and Soniya who are current college-going students and are working on enhancing the features of their AI model have a strong vision that in the future, AI will be dominating all spheres, not only in the country but across the world. The future generation will be benefited from the level of contribution that the development of AI-ground technologies can provide in every field. They are confident that the agricultural economy will be benefitted from their project. “We want to add yet another feature in the model which can set out sound waves which exceed human hearing but can be audible to animals”. Says Mohit. Such frequencies will not create any disturbance for the humans but will scare the animals with ease.