Rage against the machine vision

Mobile cameras are everywhere; wearable cameras are coming! Current computer vision technology can summarise your day, figure out your routine, even teach you how to perform a new task and remind you if you forgot to switch off the hob after cooking. What are the potentials and limitations of such technology? How mature is it, and when does it fail? This talk will not discuss privacy concerns. It offers a bright outlook into our tech-enhanced future.

Today, computers can be trained to detect and recognise various animal species (and even individuals) in images and videos based on their characteristic visual appearance. The use of these systems in natural habitats is starting to change the way that ecologists study the natural world - with a direct impact on monitoring and conservation efforts. This talk will introduce current projects on the machine recognition of animals such as Great Apes and Great White Sharks. The talk will discuss these systems alongside arising interdisciplinary challenges given a global biodiversity crisis.