SnotBot: A whale of a deep-learning project

Abstract

It s a beautiful morning on the waters of Alaska s Peril Strait — clear, calm, silent, and just a little cool. A small but seaworthy research vessel glides through gentle swells. Suddenly, in the distance, a humpback whale the size of a school bus explodes out of the water. Enormous bursts of air and water jet out of its blowholes like a fire hose, the noise echoing between the banks. • “Blow at eleven o clock!” cries the lookout, and the small boat swarms with activity. A crew member wearing a helmet and cut-proof gloves raises a large quadcopter drone over his head, as if offering it to the sun, which glints off the half dozen plastic petri dishes velcroed to the drone. • Further back in the boat, the drone pilot calls, “Starting engines in 3, 2, 1! Takeoff in 3, 2, 1!” The drone s engines buzz as it zooms 20 meters into the air and then darts off toward where the whale just dipped below the water s surface. With luck, the whale will spout again nearby, and the drone will be there when it does.