Hong-Kong youth help to map coral reefs with AI
香港青年利用AI繪製珊瑚礁地圖

CORALS BLEACHING 
Scientists have shown that at least 30% of coral reefs are already dead. Without action to preserve these reefs and curb climate change, they estimate that 90% of them will die by 2050. Hong-Kong is home to an impressive number of 84 species of corals. Here too, the reefs are increasingly bleaching due to climate change, pollution and other destructive human activities. 

OUR SOLUTION 
To respond to the issue of coral bleaching, we need first to understand where the corals are located and what their condition is. We came to the conclusion that we need to map out the coral reefs of Hong-Kong. The existing technologies (quadrat, CISME, Catlin…) typically don’t allow large scale mapping quickly enough to tackle this pressing issue. 

Our solution is the CoralBot. Equipped with 5 cameras, this autonomous boat can take 36,000 photos per hour. It’s a huge quantity of photos, which would take months to be analysed by human eye. That’s where AI comes into the picture. By labelling these photos, we can train our model to recognise the different species of coral. We could then precisely establish the location of each species. In the long run, we could even identify each individual coral thanks to its unique shape.

珊瑚白化
科學家已經表明,至少有30%的珊瑚礁已經死亡。如果不採取行動保護這些珊瑚礁和遏制氣候變化,他們估計到2050年,90%的珊瑚礁將會死亡。香港是84種珊瑚的故鄉,但由於氣候變化、污染和其他破壞性的人類活動,珊瑚礁的白化速度也越來越高。

我們的解決方案
為了應對珊瑚白化的問題,我們首先需要了解珊瑚的位置及其狀況。因此,我們認為有必要繪製出香港的珊瑚礁圖,但現有技術(quadrat,CISME,Catlin等)通常未能夠快速地進行大規模製圖以解決這一緊迫問題,我們的解決方案是CoralBot。這艘自動船配備5個攝像頭,每小時可拍攝36,000張照片。有了大量的照片,但用肉眼進行分析需要數月之久,這就是AI能貢獻的地方。通過標記這些照片,我們可以訓練AI模型,用以識別不同種類的珊瑚。然後,我們可以精確地確定每個物種的位置。從長遠來看,我們甚至可以憑藉每個珊瑚獨特的形狀來識別他們

CoralBot prototype 
CoralBot 原型

OUR PROGRAM 我們的計劃

In partnership with Ocean Park, we’ve created a program that spans from November 2020 to April 2021. We are joined on this journey by 100 students and teachers from 30 secondary schools in Hong-Kong. This program targets to equip students with practical AI knowledge in order to allow them to participate to the building of the AI model for coral reef mapping. Between now and February, we target to have 10,000 photos labelled in order to train the model. 
 

我們與海洋公園合作,共同策劃了一個計劃,其執行時間從2020年11月到2021年4月,來自香港30所中學的100名學生和老師參加了這一旅程。該計劃旨在為學生提供實用的AI知識,使他們能夠參與AI模型的珊瑚礁製圖。從現在到2月,我們的目標是標記10,000張照片以訓練AI模型。

Our process for AI model building , 我們的AI模型建立流程

BlueInno has supported us in developing the AI knowledge part, and was able to showcase a preliminary version of the AI model. 
BlueInno支持我們開發AI知識部分,並能夠展示AI模型的初步版本。

CoralBot photo trained by BlueInno 
BlueInno培訓的CoralBot照片

MAKERBAY PROGRAM – HONG KONG OCEAN YOUTH<

INSPIRATION AROUND THE WORLD 環遊世界
Lots of people around the world are now using AI for nature and animal conservation. Have a look at some of these inspiring projects ! 現在,世界上許多人都在使用AI進行自然和動物保護。看看其中一些鼓舞人心的項目!

Interested in the Coral reef mapping project ? Want to help us save corals ? Here’s how you could be a part of it:
  • You can help train the AI Coral Reef model by labelling images
  • You can donate to support the fabrication of the latest CoralBot
  • You can help spread the word within your network

Sounds like something you’d like to do ? Reach out to us at [email protected]

 對珊瑚礁製圖項目感興趣?想幫助我們拯救珊瑚嗎?這是您成為其中一部分的方式:

  • 您可以通過標記圖像來幫助訓練AI Coral Reef模型
  • 您可以捐贈以支持最新的CoralBot的製造
  • 您可以幫助在網絡中傳播信息
聽起來像是您想做的事?通過[email protected]與我們

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Ms. Angie Zhou

Education Specialist

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Angie Zhou is an Education Specialist at MIT App Inventor. She was the founder and CEO of Dreams Come True in Shenzhen, where she developed online coding courses for kids. She also has previous curriculum development, teaching and staff training experience at First Code Academy in Hong Kong.