Fighting Deforestation with Drones
The Story:
Using a fleet of highly advanced octocopters, AirSeed Technology, an Australian start-up is fighting deforestation by combining artificial intelligence with specially designed seed pods which can be fired into the ground from high in the sky.
“Each of our drones can plant over 40,000 seed pods per day and they fly autonomously,” says Andrew Walker, CEO and co-founder of AirSeed Technologies.
Once airborne, the drones navigate fixed flight paths, planting to predefined patterns and recording each seeds’ coordinates. This allows the health of the trees to be assessed as they grow.
“We’re being very mindful of the fact that we need to restore soil health, we need to restore microbial communities within the soil, and we need to restore primary habitat providers for animals,” says Walker, who believes the sky’s the limit for the drone-based technology.
The company has already planted more than 50,000 trees, and aims to plant a total of 100 million by the year 2024.
Higginson says:
With deforestation showing no real sign of slowing, more needs to be done to protect these important habitats. Forests and woodland not only help ensure biodiversity but act as a carbon sink for the earth’s atmosphere.
If we are to protect our planets habitats, innovative technology must be part of the solution.
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