DJI and Microsoft are working on AI drones that can recognize objects

Drones can be used for a lot of things. But did you know they can also be used to recognize an apple?

This sounds easy. But it’s not for a drone, which needs to train its AI models on many, many pictures of apples: An apple in the shade, an apple in the sun, an apple from the front, from the back, from a frog’s perspective…

It might sound silly, but machine learning effectively learns the same way we do.

“For a baby to know that this is an apple, it can look at different kinds of pictures and recognize that this is an apple,” says Andy Kong, a research assistant at the University of Hong Kong.

At this point, you might have one big, burning question: Why are we teaching drones to recognize apples? Because it’s not about the apples, it’s about building a model for visual recognition that can be applied in other ways.

Microsoft and DJI say that drones powered with this technology can be used in a number of scenarios. If you own huge warehouse, drones can help reach areas inaccessible to workers and check stock. If you’re a real estate company, you could easily inspect buildings for cracks, holes, and rust.

That’s why the two companies organized the AI x Drones Joint University Competition, gathering students from two Hong Kong universities to make AI models that help drones recognize different types of fruit.

I’m mildly disappointed that it’s a Microsoft laptop and not a MacBook, because I wanted to make a joke about Apples and oranges. / Photo credit: Abacus

The students then released their drones in areas with fruit scattered around, and left them to do their magic.

Screens displayed how successful their models were – labeling the fruit, plus a number indicating how sure it is that the banana is indeed a banana.