DOC AI Cam and trap updates: improved waterproofing
2040 Newsletter
January 2025
Manufacturing partner for The Cacophony Project
Kia ora & Happy 2025,
Welcome to our first newsletter for this quarter of the century. Today we have a number of updates for the DOC AI Cam, including waterproofing improvements, additional updates to audio bird monitoring capability, and improvements to the Cacophony Sidekick app.
The DOC AI Cam is the "best and least effort monitoring tool" according to Lawrence Smith from Predator Free Waitaha in this case study where they are using the DOC AI Cam to measure the effectiveness of toxins.
We also have more news on the High Interaction Rate Trap, including further improvements in the design and a successful test integrating the DOC AI Cam to control the trap.
Kā mihi nui,
Shaun Ryan
2040 Limited, manufacturing partner for The Cacophony Project.
DOC AI Cam
Late last year we found another way that water can get into our cameras, and so we designed a new lens seal. The camera now passes a much more rigorous water test that the previous design failed. This upgrade is available at no cost to all existing customers. Details of the new seal are here.
Since the last newsletter we have made it easier to set up the audio bird monitoring on the camera:
- there is now an audio tab on Sidekick, and
- you can remotely change the audio mode for connected cameras
We have also added the ability to download audio recordings to the Sidekick app when the camera is offline. This works in the same way as thermal recordings and will be available next week.
We have made a number of improvements to the Sidekick app, including the option of activity logging so we can more easily diagnose any problems.
We have been testing a mode where the machine vision runs on the camera. This opens up integration options with lower bandwidth communication such as Celium, FTP, and satellite. This hasn't been released yet, but is coming soon.
Our manufacturing process has sped up considerably, driven primarily by our move away from 3D printing the cases. We have almost caught up with our backlog of orders and expect to have stock on hand soon. This means any cameras ordered will be delivered quickly.
Finally, here's a thermal video of pigs taken by one of our customers. We don't automatically identify pigs yet, but will once we get enough data.
High Interaction Rate Trap
The team at the Cacophony Project have continued developing the High Interaction Rate Trap. We have a new design for the sensing and spool trigger mechanism. It's now all one piece which makes the trap smaller, easier to build (cheaper), and more reliable. We're still testing this design and expect to make it available to purchase in the coming months.
The new design includes a connector for the DOC AI Cam. This will allow the camera to either disable the trap (for non-target species) or enable the trap (for target species). We have successfully tested this functionality and will share details in the next newsletter.
Check out this new post from The Cacophony Project summarising the uses of the High Interaction Rate Trap.
I had the pleasure of speaking with rangers and volunteers at the Bream Head/Te Whara Conservation Trust in October. They purchased a High Interaction Rate Trap and a number of cameras. I accompanied the rangers when they installed the trap on "the old woman". It was a great opportunity to see their beautiful whenua.
They are trying to catch a stoat that has been predating grey faced petrel chicks for a number of years. Unfortunately we were a little late installing the trap, most of the chicks were gone and the last one went soon after we installed the trap. Hopefully we can help provide a safe environment for the chicks this year.
Hazing is an important part of the High Interaction Rate Trap. However, hazing can make a large impact to low tech traps as well. This was demonstrated by Te Korowai o Waiheke who used 180m of hazing to help catch an elusive stoat. We have simple to install hazing for sale.
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