Drones, AI to be used for replanting trees burned in wildfires

Each time a wildfire spreads, it consumes many forests and trees, which are not easy to plant again. To ease this effort, a startup firm has decided to make use of drones and artificial intelligence to plant trees.

A Seattle-based startup called DroneSeed has come up with a solution to the problem of planting seeds in areas consumed by the wildfires, which required a mix of drones, AI, and bioengineering.

The drones developed by the company are not only able to decide where to plant seeds, but also can actually plant them. The drone makes use of LIDAR technology for creating a 3D map of an area and a multispectral camera for gathering details about the area’s soil and vegetation. From the data gathered, the AI model figured out the ideal spot for planting a new tree, explained Futurism.

“Our drones are pretty neat. They have the ability to deliver seeds or spray, but our best bet is on our ability to determine ideal planting sites down to centimeters, assuring tree survival and growth,” DroneSeed CEO Grant Canary told GeekWire.

For planting the seeds, the company developed special ‘seed vessels’. The seed vessels are actually tiny pucks of nutrients with a seed at their center and a dusting of capsaicin, a chemical compound that acts as an irritant for mammals, on their exterior to keep out animals from eating them.

Also, the over 25kg unmanned drones can work in groups of up to five crafts for covering larger areas. The company claims that where one experienced tree planter can plant around 800 trees per day, one person with 15 DroneSeed drones can to the equivalent of 360 manual-labor hours in a single day.

DroneSeed aims to start its first commercial post-fire restoration project by next month. This tech can prove to be very helpful since the wildfires are getting more destructive and consume hundreds of thousands of trees every time.