Artificial intelligence can help highway departments find bats roosting under bridges

Photographs and computer vision techniques using artificial intelligence are able to detect the presence of bats on bridges automatically with over 90% accuracy, according to our new study. More than 40 species of bats are found in the U.S., and many of them are endangered or threatened. Bats often nest by the hundreds or thousands underneath bridges, so transportation departments are required to survey for them before conducting repair or replacement projects. I conducted the recently published study with colleagues at the University of Virginia's MOB Lab in collaboration with the Virginia Transportation Research Council. Bridge surveys are important for protecting threatened and endangered bat species. Guano, or excrement, droppings and stains are common signs that bats are present.