Hans News Service Tirumala

Tostrengthen real time monitoring of wildlife movements and enhance devotee safety in forest areas around Tirumala, TTD is evaluating use of advanced robotic technology. On Thursday, TTD Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary, accompanied by officials, reviewed the performance of a quadruped Robot (Robotic Dog) at Sri Padmavathi Guest House in Tirumala. The delegation examined the robot’s suitability for surveillance in difficult or hazardous terrain where human access is limited.

The robot is equipped with optical and thermal imaging cameras, a 360° LiDAR, multiple sensors and artificial intelligence. These features enable detection and tracking of wildlife under low visibility conditions such as darkness or fog. The AI system can classify large animals, humans, vehicles and domestic animals. On detecting wildlife movement, the system can send geo tagged alerts and stream live video and thermal feeds to control room and patrolling staff for immediate response. Priority areas include forest stretches adjoining Alipiri–Tirumala footpath, where early detection of leopards and other wildlife will help warn devotees and enable rapid deployment of forest, vigilance and security teams. The feasibility of using the robot’s sound and light units to non physically deter animals away from pilgrim areas was also examined to avoid direct human–wildlife confrontation.

It was noted that the robot would complement — not replace — existing camera traps, foot patrols and forest surveillance. It can serve as a mobile monitoring asset that can be rapidly deployed to locations with high wildlife activity as required. Analysis of video, thermal imagery and movement data collected by the robot is expected to improve understanding of wildlife patterns and inform better patrol scheduling and surveillance deployment in critical zones.