AI- assisted system for automatic identification and collection of microfossils

Last Updated : April 9, 2021

　Microfossils of micro to millimeter scale in size are commonly found in sedimentary rocks. They provide important clues for the geological age and environment in the past and have been used in exploration of geological resources such as oil and rare metal. However, the species identification of the complex-shaped fossils needs expertise acquired from long experience and required even an experienced specialist to spend substantial time and effort to handpick them under a microscope. These steady procedures remain unchanged for more than half a century. On the other hand, there is growing concerns about dwindling number of skillful experts these days.
　We have developed an AI-assisted system for the first time in the world that enabled automatic microfossil pick-up and collection, which has been done manually. The system finds out microfossils of very complex shape from sediments, identify them rapidly and accurately, then continuously collect them without hurting their delicate skeleton using a micromanipulator. These fossils are provided for dating and environmental analysis.
　It takes several years to train a microfossil expert, while only several months are needed for the system to acquire images of training data and to develop identification model. It takes several days for an expert to identify and pick-up one thousand microfossils of one species. The system completes the same task in three hours. It can also select fossils smaller than 100 micrometers, which was difficult by hand picking. The system is expected to be an innovative breakthrough in studying stratigraphic sequence.

Reference：

Itaki et al. (2020) Automated collection of single species of microfossils using a deep learning–micromanipulator system. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 7:19,
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-020-00332-4

A view of the microfossils being picked up by the system

Collected single-species microfossils