A group of students from Shiv Nadar School in Delhi developed an AI-enabled solution to the problem of stray dog hunger. The three class 10 students created an inexpensive device that can be used to automate dog feeds by NGOs, animal shelter homes, and residential complexes or societies.
This innovation was developed by students at Shiv Nadar School in Noida as part of the Capstone Project, an annual competition at the school. Shantanu Mukherjee, Ekansh Agrawal, and Arijit Sinha, members of the group, have named their device VOICE.
How they inspired to create such device
They were inspired to create such a device after hearing that there are approximately 80 million homeless cats and dogs on the streets of India, which irritated them even more. They realised that, while many people feed stray dogs, they cannot feed the entire city’s stray population.
The students created a device that operates in a fairly simple and efficient manner using open-source technology and coding languages such as Python. The device includes a small metal-cased smart feeder with a removable lid that can be used to refill dry dog food such as kibbles.
It has an in-built camera and sensor that uses computer vision to identify a dog based on several parameters such as colour, build, and so on. This AI-enabled technology within the feeder causes dog food to be dispensed, which slides down from the container to the tray beneath. It also has a UV sanitization mechanism built in.
While the device was designed primarily to handle the routine, systematic feeding of stray dogs on a large scale, it can also be used by working pet parents who find it difficult to feed their dogs while away from home. The team is also developing a mobile application for this purpose.