BBMP to survey street dogs in Bengaluru using drones

Bengaluru: A detailed survey of canines in Bengaluru is being carried out, which started on July 11. In addition to the field survey teams this year we had, VayDyn, a startup at ARTPARK IISc (Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technology Park - Indian Institute of Science) has join hands with BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to launch a pilot project to count the free roaming dogs in and around lakes of Bengaluru City using drone technology. The use of drones for canine survey is probably the first of its kind in India.

Initially, Hulimavu, Sarakki, Seegehalli and Yele Mallappa Shetty Lakes were selected as proof of concept. The drones were able to capture the images of dogs and successfully identify using artificial intelligence. The data from drone survey shall be analysed in the upcoming days and will be cross validated with the data collected by the conventional ground survey team. If the data is correlating, the team believes that all the safe and open flying spaces in the city will be surveyed with drones in the coming years, and would be time and cost efficient as compared to conventional survey methods. Also, the possibility of survey both during the day and night, enhances the specificity.

During the pilot project, the team has identified some challenges in operating drones in urban airspaces with the airspace regulations and safety concerns, but are optimistic that with new indigenous technologies like autonomous drones and access to better on-board camera systems, such operations can be scaled up massively in urban airspaces for a broad range of applications such as disease surveillance, construction inspections, encroachments, disaster management etc.