CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Members of the Riverside Boat Club on the Charles River are using a new AI sprinkler system to take aim at pesky geese and the mess they leave behind.
“A lot of us, we launch quite early, around 5:30, and some members even earlier than that, and when we show up, there’s just geese poop everywhere,” said rower Sean Richardson.
Andrew Roy, a club member and retired engineer, decided he’d use his skills to solve the goose poop problem.
“And there’s a lot of it. It’s not a good way to start the day,” Roy said.
Using motion-detecting cameras Roy installed above the docks, along with AI image recognition, the system can spot and identify the geese before spraying them with water.
“It’s pretty basic stuff. It’s just a matter of taking the right pieces and putting them together,” Roy said.
“If it’s a goose, I turn on a set of sprinklers,” he continued.
Unlike past efforts to shoo away the geese, club members said the new method truly works.
“The sprinkler starts and the geese get scared away by the sprinkler. I was definitely skeptical at first, but I’ve seen it work in action and I’m definitely a believer,” Richardson said.
The system does not harm the geese, but it does annoy them enough to keep them away from the docks.
“I don’t want to hurt the geese. They kind of deserve to be here too. I think we have to figure out how to coexist and outsmart them,” Roy said.
And now the club can say it’s one step ahead thanks to AI.
“I think this is a perfect application for AI, and you don’t get freaked out about this. You’re doing something simple. You’re just kind of sprinkling geese. People can feel happy about that maybe,” Roy said.
Now, the geese have set up shop at a different boathouse. However, Roy hopes to expand his system along the Charles.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)