This project began with a Fellowship awarded to Amanda by the Australian Federal Goverment back in 2010. Since then there have been many collaborations and projects that have contributed to the development of WISDAM. We are particularly grateful for being awarded funding from Google.org.
Our aim was to use drones, AI, and dugongs to monitor seagrass ecosystems affordably. You can read more about our project here, and below.
Dugong Detector Infographic
The funding from this award allowed us to develop WISDAM as a tool for non-expert users to conduct drone surveys of dugong in projects like the Seagrass Ecosystems Services Project, and expand the Dugong Detector AI model, which now includes nine animal classes and is dubbed the Marine Animal Detector (or MAD AI). These conservation tools are now more accessible, more user friendly, and applicable to more wildlife, thanks to the support from Google.org.
We rely on external funding to continue developing these freely available tools. If you have project ideas, or would like to contribute funding, please get in contact via our email below.