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Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

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Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#11

Post by dc_gregory »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8
dbaupp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is actually likely to save lives, because spiders very rarely kill. As far as I can tell, there's been one death from a spider bite in Australia in 40 years: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/12/young-man-dies-a... .

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

Generally, a redback is fairly unpleasant, but doesn't require a trip to the hospital (for a healthy adult), so its unlikely to be fatal in most cases anyway (thankfully!).

Funnel-webs are terrifying.

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#12

Post by lgats »

tagh wrote: post #10
Zhenya wrote: post #2

Something like this could actually save lives. Take a photo of what bit you, then the app could provide an answer (with a confidence level) of "do I need to go to the hospital" and provide a few example apps for various matches with level of danger. Thanks for sharing!

That is, if you haven't already squished it! Speaking as an Australian, common spiders which aren't poisonous (e.g., daddy long-legs, huntsmen, little jumpy-guys) is general knowledge. As is the really bad ones (funnel webs, redbacks). If you're bitten by something else, you generally assume it's somewhat poisonous and pay close attention to how you're feeling. This kind of approach would have more impact for snakes,…

Now we just need to classify squished spiders.

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#13

Post by dbaupp »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8
dbaupp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is actually likely to save lives, because spiders very rarely kill. As far as I can tell, there's been one death from a spider bite in Australia in 40 years: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/12/young-man-dies-a... .

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

Yeah, definitely: I'm only trying to highlight that this sort of app wouldn't actually do much in practice because (Australian) society already deals with such bites well. If everyone in Australia had the app and used it all the time, it still would have (maybe) prevented at most one death in the last 40 years.

In fact, since the numbers are so small, widespread useful of such an app seems like it may actually increase the number of deaths: instead of people seeing an unidentified spider and intense pain and getting treatment, people may get a false classification and so endure the pain without prompt-enough treatment ("the app says it's just a [something other than a funnelweb], I'll be fine!").

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#14

Post by dsymonds »

dc_gregory wrote: post #11
thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

Generally, a redback is fairly unpleasant, but doesn't require a trip to the hospital (for a healthy adult), so its unlikely to be fatal in most cases anyway (thankfully!). Funnel-webs are terrifying.

A redback bite generally requires medical attention; though not triple-0 level urgency, it shouldn't be a wait-and-see-how-you-feel treatment.

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#15

Post by CardenB »

michaelgreen wrote: post #3

This is huge, and it's only an alpha. I begun reading about AutoML/Neural Architecture searches around ~year ago and something I've been thinking about is: Why doesn't this just move the optimization problem? Aren't you now just optimizing your DeepRL network rather than the network you're trying to optimize?

Yeah but you basically leverage hierarchy principles to make the system better overall. At least I think that’s the idea.

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#17

Post by murukesh_s »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8
dbaupp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is actually likely to save lives, because spiders very rarely kill. As far as I can tell, there's been one death from a spider bite in Australia in 40 years: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/12/young-man-dies-a... .

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

But what if you are in between a trek or in woods? Are there generic anti-venom kits available that you can carry?

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#18

Post by King-Aaron »

murukesh_s wrote: post #17
thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

But what if you are in between a trek or in woods? Are there generic anti-venom kits available that you can carry?

Not generally, and unfortunately in recent times there have been shortages in antivenoms, and many smaller hospitals haven't been carrying them.

Re: Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

#19

Post by thomasfoster96 »

murukesh_s wrote: post #17
thomasfoster96 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s probably because it’s fairly widely known (in Australia) that if you’re bitten by a red-back or funnel-web spider that you seek medical attention, as you would for a venomous snake. A quickly treated bite is almost never fatal. The app helps people make the decision as to whether its a harmless spider or something that requires urgent medical attention.

But what if you are in between a trek or in woods? Are there generic anti-venom kits available that you can carry?

If you’re going bush walking, you’d usually take a snake bite bandage. If you’re otherwise healthy and have other people with you, you’ve got a few hours to get yourself to a hospital or ambulance.
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