A Bay of Plenty conservation biologist wants to use drones to target invasive predators that are putting New Zealand's native species at risk. Photo / X-Craft
A Bay of Plenty conservation biologist wants to use drones to target invasive predators that are putting New Zealand's native species at risk. Photo / X-Craft
Rat versus robot – but only one of them has wings.
On a private west coast island near Auckland this week, a test was being conducted to see if that match-up could ever be successful, for the sake of New Zealand biodiversity.
Could Kiwi conservationists target rats, mice, possums –some of the invasive predators putting our native bird species at risk – with drones?
Associate Professor at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in the Bay of Plenty, Craig Morley, thinks so.
This week's test was part of a ground-breaking conservation project he started years ago.
Morley wants to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – commonly known as drones – to drop bait in remote, difficult-to-reach areas of native bush.
He wants to do that with a level of precision not possible with planes or helicopters, and target areas where no pest control is being done.
He also wants to monitor the progress of that pest control from the air, collecting valuable data in the process.
Drones can get closer to the forest canopy than any other flying machine – hovering 10m, 20m, 30m above the trees for maximum accuracy and insight.
Morley said they want to be able to drop bait to within 0.5m of the intended target, and GPS-tag exactly where it has been deployed. He even wants to look at the possibility of placing sensors on each bit of bait.
"For me, it's all about the research, and getting rid of these pests," he said.
Craig Morley, an Associate Professor at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. Photo / Stephen Parker
An Auckland-based research and development drone company, X-Craft, is on board, and so is a bait manufacturer, Connovation.
"We're looking at a much more efficient, smarter way of doing pest control, rather than having people on the ground, literally, slogging their guts out," Morley said.
During his 30-year career as a conservation biologist, he has carried countless traps and other heavy equipment into the bush. Some areas are just too remote, some landscapes just too dangerous. Sure, you can fly overhead in a helicopter or plane, but that too has limitations.
"We think this is a good, innovative step to try to get more pest control done over a greater area with less cost."
Morley is providing the science and research behind the project. X-Craft is providing the technical and development know-how, the drones, the bait dispensing tool and the software. Connovation has created a new bait that can be used in this way.
Morley said they have been developing a prototype and have done different field trials. They are not yet dropping any bait from the drones, they are still using placebos.
Once they have tested precision and accuracy (which is what they were doing on the island this week), they will go to the Environmental Protection Authority with an application for a trial, to be done with bait in a controlled environment.
"It won't be until we actually do the toxin drops, which will be a year or two down the track, that we can say with any certainty we can control pests efficaciously using this innovative technology," Morley said.
Tests were being conducted this week on the precision and accuracy of the drone bait drops, using placebos. Photo / X-Craft
In the background is New Zealand's Predator Free 2050 goal. Morley said there will be many different tools between now and 2050 that will be needed to get the job done.
"And we think this could be one of them. We hope it's one of them."
Philip Solaris, chief executive of X-Craft, which has worked on drone research projects with the likes of the World Bank, Niwa, and Landcare Research, said Morley's vision "could really make a difference".
"We do have the tool ... it's a matter of whether people understand the value of it," he said.
"That's where Craig's value in the whole project is; he has such experience in this that he realises that all those millions of dollars spent on eradicating in large areas actually comes to nothing if you leave a little refuge area where they can all run away and breed and then come back."
Before this vision can become a reality, however, there are boxes to tick, questions to answer, barriers to overcome.
Discussions are being had with the Civil Aviation Authority about flying drones beyond visual line of sight. And Connovation's new bait has been approved for ground application, but not yet aerial application.
"As you do with science, you fiddle around with things until things work," Morley said.
