Anton’s Weta Watcher - using artificial intelligence to accelerate wildlife conservation

A lively turn out of twenty-five people attended the first Taranaki Soup event hosted by Startup Taranaki at the Do Box on 24th February. A collective $500 raised went to the winning idea - Victor Anton’s Wētā Watcher, a device that autonomously takes photos of ground-dwelling invertebrates and herpetofauna (lizards/geckos). Using artificial intelligence to accelerate wildlife conservation , Victor Anton’s aim is to “provide guidance, share existing resources and support conservation biologists to maximise their efforts using data-driven algorithms.” Check out his website, Wildlife.ai for more on this conservationist-meets-techie platform.

We work with New Zealand schools, charities and other organisations to teach students about Aotearoa’s unique taonga and digital technologies.

Congratulations to Victor and the Startup Taranaki team for bringing incredible thinkers together who are both business and tech savvy, but also passionate about Taranaki’s native flora and fauna. We are looking forward to more of these events!

From left: Zara Lok, Graham Nelson, Victor Anton (winner), and Katherine Blaney

Each person who contributed was able to cast a vote for the idea they think would have the most community impact. Some of the inspiring ideas included:

• a marketplace for vendor-financed homes that enables would-be first home buyers who don’t meet bank lending criteria to secure a property

• the establishment of a community running event called The Coastal Five

• a social enterprise for young, aspiring artists who attend secondary school Year 11-13

We all got to enjoy some delicious Thai pumpkin soup made by Ant Snacks/ABC Catering and sourdough bread from Billow Bakery. Ultimately it was an awesome night for catching inspiration and connecting with change makers in our community! - Katherine Blaney