TTD tests AI-powered robotic dog for wildlife monitoring, devotees safety

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is exploring the deployment of a quadruped robotic dog to strengthen real-time wildlife surveillance and enhance the safety of devotees traversing forest areas around Tirumala. TTD Additional EO, Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary, accompanied by officials, reviewed the performance of the robotic dog at the Sri Padmavathi Guest House on Thursday, and assessed its suitability for surveillance in difficult and potentially hazardous terrain where human access is constrained. Equipped with optical and thermal imaging cameras, 360-degree LiDAR, multiple sensors and artificial intelligence, the robotic dog is designed to detect and track wildlife even in low-visibility conditions, including darkness and fog. Its AI-enabled system can distinguish between large animals, humans, vehicles and domestic animals. On detecting wildlife movement, the system can generate geo-tagged alerts while transmitting live video and thermal feeds to control rooms and patrolling personnel, enabling quicker responses.