The Idea
So we can use machine learning to tell if the person in the street is Bob or John... But we can't yet use it to tell if a penguin on the Kansas City Zoo live cam is a King Penguin or a Gentoo. It would be awesome to show that information in real-time on things like a Zoo's live cam to help people who are watching to learn about and feel connected to the animals. Eventually, perhaps we could even use ML to tell if that King Penguin is the one named Elvis or some other penguin.
While this type of work would educate audiences and tug at heart strings, it would also help to further scientific studies and conservation efforts.
A paper linked here has already started the work of using ML to recognize individual Chimpanzees in video.
Who Would Like It?
Maybe you've always admired Jane Goodall or been curious about Koko. Maybe you had a burning desire to be a marine biologist at one point in your life, or begged the adults for a horse as a child. If any of these describe you, please consider tackling this small project which could go a long way towards making the world better.
