Yogyakarta, domclub Indonesia
—
Technology expert
artificial intelligence
(AI) from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Andi Dharmawan believes that breakthroughs in rescue technology are needed to speed up the process of searching for victims
disaster
in Sumatra.
Andi said that search and rescue for disaster victims can utilize technology based on drones, computer vision and smart devices.According to him, this has been proven to be effectively used in various developed countries in disaster operations.
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The use of drones as a means of searching for victims, said Andi, is actually nothing new.He gave the example of how drones were used to search for victims of Hurricane Harvey in the United States.
The drone that was flown then sent real-time aerial video to speed up the evacuation.A similar example also occurred in Australia, when a drone saved two teenagers swept away by waves by automatically dropping a life jacket.
“Japan and Switzerland have also developed drones with thermal cameras and AI to detect human presence among debris. In Indonesia, drones have started to be used, but they are not yet integrated with AI. The challenge is just integration, adoption and downstreaming,” said Andi, quoted from the official UGM website, Thursday (11/12).
The technology is promising, but the complexity of Indonesia’s geographic conditions presents the biggest challenge.
Diverse disaster fields, ranging from extensive floods, dense forests, to areas without signals, affect the stability of drones and the accuracy of artificial intelligence-based detection.
According to him, AI is indeed able to detect humans in images, but a number of factors such as murky water, lots of debris, minimal lighting or the victim’s body being partially covered mean that field conditions are not always ideal.
“The model must be very strong for real world conditions. Apart from that, integrating information from drones and AI into the SAR team in the field also requires a fast and neat system so that detection results can be immediately followed up,” he explained.
In order for it to be implemented effectively, Andi suggested that technology development start with simple implementation, but the benefits will be immediately felt.For him, a stable drone with high-quality real-time video has really helped in sweeping without having to wait for advanced technology to be implemented all at once.
Only then is a light AI feature included to mark areas where humans are suspected.
“Not replacing humans, but speeding up the process of checking videos. If this stage is successful, a multi-drone system capable of automatically combing large areas can begin to be tested on a larger scale,” continued Andi.
Andi believes that field trials are the key to the successful integration of victim search technology in the country.The reason is, whatever the latest technology, if it has not been tested in the Indonesian terrain, where the weather changes quickly and there are many unexpected things, it will still require a lot of adjustments.
Various research on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), computer vision and AI at UGM, said Andi, is already very advanced.However, this requires downstream support and collaboration with disaster agencies so that it can actually be used in official operations.
Andi’s hope is that innovation in finding victims will not stop at the concept stage, considering that the technology for this still stops at the research phase.Ideally, stronger support is needed so that existing research can actually reach the downstream stage and be used in SAR operations.
He also hopes that there will be regular testing activities in the field for technology that continues to develop.
“It doesn’t have to be big right away, the important thing is that it continues to develop and in the end it can really help save lives,” he concluded.
(kum/dmi)
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