A PEST insect that potentially threatens Australia's agriculture sector could meet its match in the form of a smartphone app.
Researchers from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and the CSIRO are finalising a portable device that uses artificial intelligence to help biosecurity officers more quickly identify high-risk brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) on the frontline.
Microsoft is also onboard as a partner to develop and trial a mobile phone application.
This app will help operational staff identify the BMSB (Halyomorpha halys) and other invasive and endemic stink bug species in the field and in real-time.
The CSIRO has identified each stink bug (Pentatomids) specimen, exotic and native, and produced a digital library of high-resolution images with pictures of the bugs taken from multiple angles.
It then uses a Microsoft AI image recognition model and, using machine learning, to train it to identify the top, underside and side views of each distinct bug.
This information was developed into an app for mobile phones, to be trialled by DAFF biosecurity and surveillance officers in the field.
The technology provides a confidence rating on the species' identification, which helps officers more quickly determine their next course of action.
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Deputy secretary of biosecurity and compliance Dr Chris Locke said the project is extremely timely as annual measures to stop BMSB entering Australia started on September 1 last year.
"In the last 25 years, the sap-sucking BMSB has become established in several countries in Europe and North America," Dr Locke said.
"They can cause considerable damage to crops like apples, pears, grapes, cotton, maize, tomatoes, soybeans, citrus and stone fruits.
"Our operational staff and entomologists do a great job thwarting high-risk pest incursions such as the BMSB at our borders, but any technology that can assist them to make identifications more confidently and faster is welcome.
"Operational staff can find high-priority pests challenging to identify in the field as many exotic species look similar to endemic species.
"Formal identification of pests detected at borders and other risk pathways traditionally takes time as specimens must be sent to a specialist entomologist for proper identification.
"When pest detections are made, it can sometimes lead to delays in the release of impacted cargo or mail.
"The work is being widened to also include AI recognition of destructive exotic bee species and other plant pests."
CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said Australia's growing AI capability can be among the best in the world, but it doesn't mean anything until it is translated into solutions that make life better for everyone.
"This app will help our biosecurity officers tell invasive species apart from our own native species, a uniquely Australian solution to a unique Australian challenge," Dr Marshall said.
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