Denver-area female students invent wildlife detection device to save lives

An all-female team of teens has invented a device they say can help save both human and animal lives.

The students at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado spent months on their idea, working together for the “Samsung Solve for Tomorrow” contest. It asks students to find a problem that’s affecting their community and try to use technology to solve it.

Colorado has a major problem with drivers colliding with wildlife. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, there are close to 4-thousand collisions every year that cost drivers an estimated $80-million. So the teens worked to engineer something that everyone can put on their cars to avoid those accidents.

Their wildlife detection device uses infrared cameras to detect animals nearby and warn drivers with a light and a sound. The cameras can detect body heat, even in the dark or bad weather conditions, and an algorithm tracks heat and motion, then AI machine learning recognizes it as an animal. The device is also inexpensive, using four $5 infrared sensors, which could help make it widely available if it ever hits the market.