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A screenshot provided by Southwest Research Institute shows its dog-detection highlighting loose dogs in video captured by cell phone (Southwest Research Institute)<\/p>\nSAN ANTONIO \u2013 Padding along sidewalks and alleyways, thousands of loose dogs are estimated to be roaming San Antonio every day.<\/p>\n
But how many, exactly?<\/p>\n
The Southwest Research Institute is preparing to use cell phones and AI technology on behalf of the city\u2019s Animal Care Services department to try and figure it out.<\/p>\n
SwRI\u2019s Intelligent Systems Division plans to use window-mounted cell phones to survey a selection of areas around the city. The phones will record five-second video clips through an app that will determine whether the clips have captured a dog in it or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve kind of tuned it to be a little permissive. If it thinks it\u2019s a dog: store that video and bring it back,\u201d explained Mike Koets, a staff engineer leading the project. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then, yeah, we do have additional tools that run on a Windows desktop to further analyze the videos, give us a better automated sense of it, and also allow human review of those to make sure they\u2019re accurate,\u201d Koets said.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccomputer vision\u201d technology being used to determine if the phone has recorded a dog, cat, cyclist, or a car falls under the umbrella of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
A screenshot provided by Southwest Research Institute shows its dog-detection highlighting loose dogs in video captured by cell phone (Southwest Research Institute)<\/p>\n
However, Koets says they are \u201cusing some of the simpler, earlier AI technologies around computer vision. It is a neural network. But it\u2019s not the kind of power-hungry, large data center AI that is so much in the news right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained the algorithms at the core of the system had been trained on a large number of images.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd through an iterative process of software development, they were literally trained what to recognize so that now they\u2019re pretty good at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In some instances, the system could end up being better than just a set of eyes. <\/p>\n
Koets said when SwRI was developing the technology, they tried counting both by hand and leaving the system running. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we had a number of cases where it brought back data points. We were like, \u2018but there was no dog there.\u2019 And yeah, sure enough, look at the video and it is there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
SwRI is doing this as part of a roughly $99,000 deal with the city\u2019s Animal Care Services department.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis study gives us another tool to better understand where we are seeing unrestrained dogs while also supporting our broader work to protect the health and safety of people and pets in San Antonio,\u201d ACS Director Jon Gary said in a news release. \u201cUltimately, this study and the data we get from it will help promote responsible pet care and strengthen community connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A map of the U.S. Census tracts selected to be survey areas in an FY 2019 Unrestrained Dog Study (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n