JM Innovations



National & World Ag News Headlines
New App to Identify Microscopic Pests in Crops
USAgNet - 03/22/2019

A new, SA-developed diagnostic tool could help manage pest outbreaks in the horticulture industry, among its uses. Created by GoMicro, the combination of the microscope and smartphone has previously been used in a kit to diagnose leishmaniasis in war-torn nations as well as in schools as a teaching tool.

But it is now being tested as one part of an AI diagnostic package to identify anything that is visible but requires magnification.

The Adelaide-based company, which was spun out of the New Venture Institute at Flinders University, is looking to raise funds to commercialise the system, which has numerous potential applications across all industries.

Company adviser and former SARDI head Rob Lewis said the GoMicro platform was an example of the successful integration of key technologies such as mobile, microscopy, machine learning and interpretive data analyses.

"This is the front end of a developing machine learning diagnostics system with multiple uses," he said.

GoMicro chief executive officer Sivam Krish said the company was in the mid of proving the concept by identifying Qld fruit flies, a pest that threatens SA's $1.25 billion horticulture industry.

Through SARDI, Mr Krish distributed 200 microscopes to farmers in SA and used the images they sent back to create a database for the machine-learning engine to compare.

Krish said the key achievement was the ability for the device to create consistent laboratory conditions in the field by simply placing the specimen in the high-quality imaging microscope attachment.

The quality of the images, according to Mr Krish, significantly reduced the number of images the AI engine needed to achieve 90 per cent accuracy in tests to determine if a fly was male or female, which enables scientists to track breeding.


Other National Headlines
TractorPumps.com
Gehling Auction
Copyright © 2024 - Farms.com. All Rights Reserved.