AI models are adept at distinguishing one winged creature from another. This #MagPiMonday, Rosie Hattersley goes beyond the buzz.
Fun fact that might get you a point in the local pub quiz: Vespa, Piaggio’s iconic scooter, is Italian for wasp, which its buzzing engine sounds a bit like. Less fun fact: nature’s counterpart to the speedy two-wheeler has an aggressive variant that has been seen in increasing numbers across western Europe and which is a direct threat to bees, which are one of their key food sources. Bees are great for biodiversity; Asian hornets (the largest type of eusocial wasp) are not. But it’s only particular hornet species that pose such a threat. Most citizen reports of Asian hornets are native species, and a key issue is ensuring that existing hornet species are not being destroyed on this mistaken assumption. To combat misinformation and alarm at the so-called ‘killer’ hornet (itself a subset of wasp), academics at the University of Exeter have developed a VespAI detector that presents a positive identification system showing where new colonies of the invasive hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax have begun to spread. The system works by drawing the insects to a pad that is impregnated with tasty (to wasps) smelling foodstuffs.