We are happy to announce that the cooperation Project between uNdersea visiOn sUrveillance System (NOUS) and Hippocampus Marine Institute has been selected for an Artificial Intelligent for Earth Microsoft Azure Compute Grant with the project title: “Machine Learning and Real Time Monitoring for the conservation of marine life with emphasis on seahorses“.

The project will start with species classification at Peristera’s underwater site.

The Artificial Intelligence machine learning will begin with 3 different types of fish (for example groupers, morays, etc) and will continue with the seahorses.

At Peristera’s underwater site, NOUS system is already installed. The system consists of five submarine housings equipped with cameras and windshield wipers for the camera lenses. The whole operation is controlled by a number of multitasking computing units. The network of the underwater cameras ends up in a submarine hub, which is powered by a 200m long cable from the shore, via a purpose-built solar power station at Peristera rocky island.

Hippocampus Marine Institute and uNdersea visiOn sUrveillance System (NOUS) will use all Microsoft Azure credits and Microsoft will add our team to resources including the AI for Earth grantee community website, AI for Earth grantee Microsoft Teams group, digital events and publications.

The Hippocampus Marine Institute is a Non-Government Organization with main object the protection and conservation of biodiversity and in particular seahorses, especially focused to the unique phenomenon of the seahorse colony in Stratoni, Chalkidiki.

NOUS is a prototype innovative system that can monitor continuously (24/7) an underwater area of interest, combining Artificial Intelligence for marine and diving industry, eliminating the need for a human operator to perform tasks like object detection, image classification, monitoring, etc. rest, combining Artificial Intelligence for marine and diving industry. Since its conception, the system is designed to be a fully autonomous system in operation.