Information processing apparatus and information processing method

An information processing apparatus comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• estimate a movement route of an animal group and specify a checking area and a timing that satisfies a predetermined condition based on an estimated density of animals in the animal group and on a movement history of the animal group;
• perform control such that an aerial vehicle that captures images of the animal group is caused to fly to the checking area at the timing specified by the processor;
• extract images of individual animals of the animal group, that behave independently from the animal group in a first checking area in which a state of the animal group was checked;
• specify a second checking area in which the state of the extracted individual animals is checked;
• and
• perform control such that the aerial vehicle is caused to fly to the first checking area and second checking area that were specified by the processor.

An information processing method comprising:

• estimating a movement route of an animal group and specifying a checking area and a timing that satisfies a predetermined condition based on an estimated density of animals in the animal group and on a movement history of the animal group;
• performing control such that an aerial vehicle that captures images of the animal group is caused to fly to the checking area at the time specified;
• specifying the checking area in which animals of the animal group of a threshold number or more are facing in the same direction based on a movement direction specified from the movement history of the animal group;
• and
• causing the aerial vehicle to fly in a direction directly facing the animal group in the checking area specified so as to capture faces of the animals.

An information processing method comprising:

• estimating a movement route of an animal group and specify a checking area and a timing that satisfies a predetermined condition based on an estimated density of animals in the animal group and on a movement history of the animal group;
• performing control such that an aerial vehicle that captures images of the animal group is caused to fly to the checking area at the timing specified by the processor;
• extracting images of individual animals of the animal group, that behave independently from the animal group in a first checking area in which a state of the animal group was checked;
• specifying a second checking area in which the state of the extracted individual animals is checked;
• and
• performing control such that the aerial vehicle is caused to fly to the first checking area and second checking area that were specified.