New chainsaw drone technology deployed to fight Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death

A brand new aerial chainsaw system that might help within the battle to save lots of Hawaiʻi’s ʻōhiʻa timber from a lethal fungal pathogen is being put to the check by a University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo geographer. Professor Ryan Perroy and his analysis workforce have developed a drone attachment able to sampling tree department samples for diagnostic laboratory testing and different functions.

The system, named Kūkūau, consists of a small rotating chainsaw with a robotic gripper claw mounted beneath a drone, and might minimize and retrieve branches as much as seven centimeters in diameter. The samples are collected for diagnostic testing of forest fungal pathogens, together with these answerable for Fast ʻŌhiʻa Loss of life (ROD).

“There have been occasions after we detected an ʻōhiʻa tree suspected of an infection with the pathogens answerable for Fast ʻŌhiʻa Loss of life, however due to the situation, it was too harmful or problematic to ship area crews out to pattern it for affirmation,” mentioned Perroy. “Kūkūau has the potential to assist in these varieties of conditions.”

The cutting-edge system was developed by Perroy and his workforce in collaboration with researchers at ETH Zürich, a public analysis college in Switzerland, the U.S. Division of Agriculture, and R&R Machining/Welding in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island. Perroy’s analysis on aerial department sampling was not too long ago printed and featured on the duvet of the journal drones.

Venture funding was supplied by the U.S. Division of the Inside’s Workplace of Native Hawaiian Relations, the Nationwide Park Service, and Conservation X Labs. The UH Academy for Creative Media provided the 3D printer used within the undertaking.

Kūkūau is the identify of an ahupuaʻa (land subdivision) within the Hilo space, and can also be a time period for a kind of crab, Metopograpsus thukuhar, or ʻalamihi in Hawaiian.

Important modifications

Researchers at ETH Zürich had beforehand developed a drone attachment able to slicing small tree branches, nevertheless, when the UH Hilo workforce used the system they discovered that the samples of twigs had been typically too small to detect the fungal pathogens. In July 2019, Perroy’s workforce collaborated with the Swiss researchers and a Hilo welding firm to develop a brand new drone attachment geared up to noticed off bigger branches.

“We efficiently detected the goal fungal pathogen from the collected branches and located that department diameter, leaf presence and situation, in addition to wooden moisture content material are necessary components in pathogen detection in sampled branches,” Perroy defined.

Not one of the smallest department samples examined optimistic for C. lukuohia, whereas 77% of the biggest diameter department samples produced optimistic outcomes. The analysis reveals that the brand new department sampler, able to retrieving the bigger branches, offers the appropriate dimension for a better fee of profitable diagnostic testing.

Since 2014, researchers found ROD killed lots of of 1000’s of mature ʻōhiʻa timber (Metrosideros polymorpha) all through the Hawaiian Islands and continues to unfold. ROD is brought on by two invasive fungi, Ceratocystis huliohia and Ceratocystis lukuohia, and has the potential to irreversibly change some Native Hawaiian ecosystems.

Extra on UH Hilo aerial survey analysis

Perroy is principal investigator on the UH Hilo Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Laboratory, a analysis unit making use of geospatial instruments to native environmental issues in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific area. His group has been engaged on the detection of ROD and invasive species populations over forests throughout Hawaiʻi utilizing high-resolution cameras and different sensors carried by drones and helicopters. The collected pictures and knowledge present managers valuable time to answer outbreaks, and provides scientists higher data on how ailments and invasive species unfold.

In 2019, Perroy won $70,000 in a competition sponsored by the Nationwide Park Service for his modern use of drones and distant sensing units to detect ROD. All through the final three years, Perroy and his workforce have continued to hone and refine the tools wanted to conduct aerial sampling utilizing a small unoccupied aerial system.