Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered lasers could repel wild birds carrying highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) away from commercial poultry houses.
“We see many farmers bring a laser pointer in their pocket for if they see pigeons or sparrows,” said Aidan Chang, founder, iChase.io.
By combining AI with lasers, “we know with precision, we can scare these wild birds away,” he added.
One of the biggest benefits of this technology is to biosecurity. Wild birds can be a major source of disease spread in commercial poultry, especially when it comes to HPAI. The current HPAI outbreak has impacted more than 80 million layers, broilers and turkeys in the U.S.
Using AI to keep lasers random
To use the technology, operators set up a camera in the middle of the farm. With artificial intelligence (AI), the camera can recognize and track the differences between poultry that belong on the farm versus foreign birds. Once a foreign bird is spotted, a targeted laser acts as a deterrent to keep the bird away.
Previous systems using lasers deployed every five or ten minutes. Wild birds are quick to learn this pattern, which means they lose their fear response. Because of the AI used in this system, the laser is random, making it more difficult for a pattern to emerge and more effective at keeping wild birds away.
The laser is specially designed to deploy green light at a wavelength of 520 nanometers, which shows up brightly in the eyes of birds.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
