Elk-be-gone kickoff and Ai+Agriculture Talk

The Elk-be-gone is an exciting IoT and AI project sponsored by the CAST cooperative. Paul Mineau - AI developer and data scientist - will present briefly on the past-present-and future of AI, and also AI and automation in agriculture (briefly). The negative sides of Ai will be discussed, and a couple solutions pointed out, and many possible topics for future meetups discussed.

Demo of working elk detection video system.

You'll get to see some price sheets for various Elk-be-gone systems. Bring your research on gear and pricing. We won't describe the project in detail here, but the gist is that you can innovate, earn, and be part of scientific discovery, as we get to the bottom of what scares the hell out of elk, deer, bear, even solicitors, on the farm, and also residential.

Hear about the psychology of elk and deer, and see how to use AI tools to 'research the research' and build reports to help you design better systems.

The coop will reward you heavily for innovation. The top 3 configurations will be sold as out-of-the-box solutions, as well as kits in 2027 worldwide. (hopefully funding CAST to the next level, farm automation is expensive!)

A brief prediction of Carnation 5-10-20 years will be given with a range of possibilities, from automation standpoint to possible outcomes for the human condition and ecosystem. Things you may have thought impossible may very soon be possible. You may hear about some risks that are new to you. So please come to hear about one person's opinion and share your own.

The presentation is packed with information, but the important part of this meetup is the discussion. Future meetups will be less presentation and discussion, and more hands on building. The exciting part is going over parts lists and identifying which prototype kits every Elk-be-gone participant will be investing in. This project supports any wifi camera (anything that can talk RTSP), smartphone, and deterrent that is legal and ethical. I think cattle prods are out of the question, unfortunately, but there are so many ways to scare a deer off. The science side of this project will identify what deterrents are working the best long term. Which sounds? Which lights? What combinations? What variations? What habituation is measured? There are so many questions we'll hopefully answer.

Paul will show his personal kit list for the fixed Elk-be-gone system as well as mobile rover swarm. All for under $1,000. What you choose to purchase for your own solution is entirely up to you. The goal with this project is to share what hardware, what deterrents, etc. work. The goal is to keep the elk off farmland as soon as possible. Geeking out over hardware and tech is just a side benefit.

CAST membership is open to any farmer in the valley. Our aim is to provide the lowest cost robotics and AI solutions to farmers around the world, allowing them to produce more while not loosing their humanity. We want to give small and mid-size farms a chance against the big guys. Our robots, manufactured in the valley will hopefully be world renowned for their durability and quality, and of course intelligence. All field test with scientific studies backing their effectiveness.

We'll also cover future upcoming projects as well, for instance a low cost high power laser weeder robot that needs to come down from 60k to 5k. Every meetup we will cover new technology, how much it costs, and if its possible to do it cheaper and better.