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Thermal vision improves varroa destructor detection by using heat differences between mite and host, reducing false positives common in RGB due to visual noise and image errors.
About
Engenia Solutions is a data science company specializing in computer vision, LLMs, and statistical data modeling solutions. We cater to the research and innovation sector in Australia and Asia. We are a recipient of the Victorian ag-tech innovation grant in 2023 for our product @broodbox.ai: a thermal image-based beehive monitoring and colony-counting solution for the commercial pollination sector.
Outside of Australia, our work has been recognised by the consultancy services we provided to several World Bank-funded projects in Asia between 2018 to 2023.
Key Benefits
Our solution should ideally be an addition to the current toolkit used in the varroa response. While the current tools, such as alcohol wash and sugar shakes, provide reliable results, the application and scalability of those tests have considerable limitations due to their invasive nature. Therefore, we suggest a non-invasive detection solution by monitoring beehives through thermal cameras and visual image process models.
Distinctive benefits of this method:
- Due to its non-invasive and continuous monitoring nature, this will be a scalable early detection method that allows the detection of mites at earlier stages before they cause significant damage. This stays in contrast to cross-sectional testing methods such as alcohol wash and sugar shake.
- Once a potential threat is detected, it should be confirmed via alcohol wash and sugar shakes, reducing the time, effort, and resources otherwise dedicated to more frequent invasive testing.
- Non-invasive testing will enable biosecurity agencies to conduct regular monitoring in large areas with potential risk, yet the mites have not been identified; thus, the invasive tests have little practical benefits.
Applications
Our primary market is the Australian apiary industry since the solution is intended to detect, monitor, and control the varroa destructor. However, instead of introducing this as a tool for beekeepers, we believe this should be added to the biosecurity toolkit used in varroa response.
Detection of varroa mites through non-invasive technology like thermal image monitoring will allow both beekeepers and biosecurity officials to mobilize resources more efficiently and effectively by limiting alcohol wash and sugar shake tests to the confirmation process.
For states that are still far from receiving significant verrroa threats, such as WA, NT, and Tasmania, this tool provides a biosecurity fense enforced through continuous monitoring.