When technology vendors are trying to solve consumers and enterprises problems using artificial intelligence, Microsoft has gone one step ahead and has come out with a solution for horses.
Known as ‘Digital Horse’, a collaborative project between Microsoft and its partners to promote the wellbeing of horses and increase their lifespan.
Speaking to TechRadar Middle East, Sayed Hashish, General Manager for Microsoft UAE, said the project is part of efforts such as AI for Good, AI for Earth, AI for Cultural Heritage to preserve and enrich the cultural heritage around the world.
Using machine learning, computer vision, advanced analytics, cognitive reasoning, the Internet of Things and augmented reality, he said the solution creates an ecosystem that allows 24/7 monitoring of animals – from health and nutrition to sleeping and training.
Through these technologies, he said: “We will also be able to address the planets biggest challenges around the earth, managing the earth resources, around the oceans and looking after our oceans, around the quality of air and pollution, around deforestation.
“We have a lot of good examples of how we are using artificial intelligence to protect wildlife including, for example, some of the projects that we are doing in Africa, using AI to combat poaching of animals and what we are doing now in Central Asia with the snow leopard, it is an endangered animal,” he said.
Using data to solve issues
Similarly in this part of the world, he said that the horse is part of the regional heritage and it is powerful as it is.
It is a fragile animal and gets injured very easily, he said, especially with hot climates.
Even though the solution is tested in other parts of the world, it is now tested in the UAE data centres.
Hashish said that sensors and cameras are fixed on the stable, apart from the sensors that are put on the animal itself to capture data and added that the data goes in the back-end of the Azure cloud to recognise whether the horse is moving in the right manner combined with the right temperature.
“Once the solution is run and widely adopted, I'm sure that the amount of data that we get would also get us to take it to the next level to understand how we can get better at truly looking after them. I think it is a journey we are starting,” he said.
When asked whether any takers for the AI solution, he said that there are a lot of people that are interested but did not reveal the names.
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