Business Challenge
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Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is a service provider to the red meat industry, and they provide research to protect and promote the industry in Australia and international markets
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To detect levels of harmful parasites in livestock, farmers collect samples, and distribute them for manual testing, a lengthy and inefficient process
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MLA sought to streamline this laborious process through the development of a predictive smartphone app
Results
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The technology developed enables farmers to identify and treat parasites in the field, saving time and increasing productivity
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The app uses Machine Learning to detect the number and type of parasites from a photograph of the animals faeces, rather than a collection sample
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Research has uncovered future avenues to explore, and technology can be developed further, with the ability to deploy via smartphones, dedicated appliances, laptops or the Cloud
Solution & Approach
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Due to the lack of existing data, tools, and research publicly available in this area, an R&D project was conducted
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A 3-stage plan was developed to leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence to tackle detection challenges through computer vision and Machine Learning
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The plan encompassed the creation of parasite images, study of machine learning algorithms, training of neural networks and deployment of the technology
