Jharkhand Man, 18, Develops AI Device To Reduce Human-Elephant Conflicts

An 18-year-old Jharkhand man has developed a low-cost AI-based device to mitigate human-elephant conflicts, particularly in rural areas, for the state forest department, an official said on Friday.

The device is currently being tested at Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR), and it is being planned to use it as a pilot project in Ranchi district in August, he said.

Avi Mohan Kumar Shuklaa, who recently passed the Class-12 board examination from a Ranchi-based school, said he has been working on the project for the past three months.

"The device, 'Innobox', is a solar-powered AI wildlife deterrent device using seismic sensors, radar, and an AI camera to detect and deter elephants and other animals from farmland, with over 80-85 per cent species detection accuracy," Avi told PTI.

Human-elephant conflicts have been a major concern for the Jharkhand forest department for decades, and it has been working on several layers to mitigate the problem.

Man-elephant conflicts in Jharkhand have left as many as 474 people dead since the 2019-20 fiscal, according to a government report.

The forest department funded the project of Avi, the son of a Ranchi-based businessman Ashish Kumar Shukla, after he submitted details of the development of the device.

"After seeing Avi on social media, I called him and reviewed his presentation. The forest department has funded Rs 1 lakh to develop 10 such AI-based advance devices. The devices are in testing phase. We have sent him to Palamu Tiger Reserve for the final testing, which so far yielded a positive response with 80-85 per cent accuracy," Jharkhand Chief Wildlife Warden Ravi Ranjan told PTI.

He said that after completion of the testing, the devices will be used as a pilot project in Ranchi district, most likely in August.

"If it is successful, they will be installed across the state, as the devices are low-cost," he said.

The current elephant repeller solutions use sirens with motion sensors, which trigger after detecting any object, whether human or any animal, Avi said.

"This causes two problems. First, it drains the battery very fast, and second, the false alarm causes trouble to villagers. My device will trigger a siren only after detecting a large animal such as an elephant through seismic sensors. Besides, there is no issue of battery, as it is solar-powered," the youth claimed.

On how the idea struck his mind, Avi said he was selected for the 'Young Change Maker' programme of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi when he was in class 11.

"As part of the programme, I visited Rasabeda village in Ranchi where I noticed the crop damage caused by elephants on farmers' land. Then, it came to my mind to develop a device which can alert the villagers about the arrival of animals and keep them away from the village," he added.

Avi developed a device following research and deployed it in the village. "It benefited 35 families in the village, which motivated me to develop an advanced version of the device," he added.

The young entrepreneur has dropped out of education for a year and aspires to crack IIT next year.

Besides the forest department, the project is backed by Emergent Ventures, USA and IIM Ranchi, he said.

Winner of the best budding entrepreneur by Start Ups Jharkhand, Avi claimed to have built a work management dashboard for PTR staff, addressing the forest department's staffing shortages.

The principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Ranjan, said, "We funded Avi to promote local talent and indigenous technology".

He said they are working on a three-layered plan to mitigate man-elephant conflicts. "We are installing thermal cameras on the top layer, infrared cameras at the middle layer, and the devices developed by Avi will be deployed at the lowest level where there is an issue of network and power," Ranjan added.

In February, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had expressed concerns over the rising number of casualties due to man-elephant conflicts in the state and directed officials to develop a mechanism to ensure that no human death occurs due to attacks by the animal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)