The App Turning Smartphones Into Wildfire Detectors
Fig 1: LookOut Cam app repurposes an old smartphone as a wildfire detection visual sensor. The first public demo was shown to the Go Austria Spring 2022 cohorts at the Zoku Vienna Hotel on 27th May 2022.
The best camera is the one that’s with you.
You can now use your old and unused smartphone to detect early-stage wildfires. It requires no new equipment and there is no hardware delivery lead time. You can protect your home and mitigate forest fire risks now.
The power of presence.
1.2 billion new smartphones are sold in the world annually. Millions of old phones will be kept idle in the draw, recycled, or put in landfills. Americans throw away 416,000 cell phones every day; 151.8 million phones trashed in a single year.
Fig 2: hundreds of millions of smartphone trashed annually. Image source: Marzahn_Hellersdorf
We can now use these old but functioning smartphones to detect forest fires. Reduce e-waste, wildfire risks, and carbon emissions.
The LookOut Cam app works seamlessly with our LookOut wildfire detection SaaS. A LookOut user enters its LookOut camera endpoint URL in the app, and the app will use the smartphone’s rear camera to periodically take a photo and send it to the user’s LookOut camera. LookOut will use Machine Learning object detection to identify early-stage wildfire in the image. LookOut will send alerts to users if a wildfire outbreak is detected.
Fig 3: A LookOut user can enter its LookOut camera endpoint URL in the app, and use the smartphone to provide photo inputs to LookOut.
Fig 4: We shared how our LookOut platform leveraged the 5G network to offer new AI applications at the 5G International Exchange Forum in Vienna on 1st June 2022.
The LookOut Cam app is the latest step of our consumerization journey. We believe different users can use different wildfire detection tools to cater to their different needs and environments.
Fig 5: The new LookOut Cam app is the latest step of our consumerization journey
The best wildfire detection is the one that you can use now.
The LookOut Cam app is a simple, cost-effective and environment-friendly solution to turn millions of old smartphones into wildfire detection sensors. LookOut Cam is a free app, supports both Android and iOS. With the help from our summer interns, we can speed up the app development and beta testing. We’re excited to launch the new LookOut Cam app in July 2022!
Please contact us at info@roboticscats.com if you have any questions or suggestions.
About Robotics Cats
Robotics Cats is a climatetech headquartered in Hong Kong. We are a team of talented people with diverse cultures. We focus on computer vision, AI and robotics technologies.
We provide early wildfire detection and environmental monitoring solutions to international customers. National parks, forestry, wildfire services, UNESCO world heritages, private plantations, tourist resorts and power infrastructure companies, around the world, are working with us to mitigate wildfire risks and damages.
We team up with partners to provide turn-key solutions in Asia, Europe, North, Central and South Americas. Our partners are experts in forestry management, environmental protection, risk management, precision agriculture, telecommunications and smart city. Please contact us if you’re interested to join us protecting forests and the world.