A project funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has developed an automated solution to address the hazardous nature of traditional crop disease detection methods.
Dr. Jose Ildefonso U. Rubrico and his team from the Autonomous Societally Inspired Mission Oriented Vehicles – Harmonized Aerial Watch and Knowledge-Based Survey (Asimov-Hawks) presented their AI-powered solution called Hawks AI at a recent fair in SOCCSKSARGEN.
Hawks AI is an AI-enhanced decision support system designed for rapid, cutting-edge aerial crop management, disease detection, and related applications.
Its features include advanced, reconfigurable technologies for automated functionality, aerial survey and mapping, and decision support systems for enhanced user experience.
“An important part of our mandate is to provide relevant solutions to persistent challenges in productivity sectors, such as the agri-banana industry,” Rubrico explained, emphasizing Asimov-Hawks’ role in developing AI-enhanced robotic technologies.
To provide context, the Philippines has been the second-largest banana producer since 2018, with 3.3 million metric tons. However, reports indicate that total banana exports have declined from 2019 to 2022 due to the spread of Panama disease, high production costs, and rising fertilizer expenses.
Through Hawks AI, drones equipped with cameras capture real-time visuals, enabling crop disease detection, crop inventory, and other related applications. A key feature of the technology is its ability to detect individuals and generate measurements, such as crop count.
The AI technology is also applicable in other productivity areas, performing optimized searches and mapping regions efficiently.
Asimov-Hawks serves as the aerial component of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) flagship research and development program in AI and robotics.
It is funded by DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) and is currently being implemented by the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).