Scientists have now innovated a special robotic arm they can attach to drones to carefully cut off bits of endangered plants growing off cliffside terrain! This technology is enabling them to reach endangered species before it's too late. Continue reading to find out more!
Image: NTBG
Discovering Rare, Near Extinct Natives Clinging To Inaccessible Cliffs In Hawaii
Searching for hard-to-reach plants and collecting samples has traditionally been executed by intrepid botanists using ropes to make their way down cliffs. But now, new technologies have meant that scientists can now reach places too risky for humans and save the last surviving endangered species before it’s too late!
Ben Nyberg was operating a new drone on a sharp ridge along Hawaii’s Na Pali Coast, using his iPad as a viewfinder. Then, he spotted ‘Wilkesia hobdyi’ — a tufted bright green plant clinging to the cliff, appearing like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! This plant was once abundant on the Hawaiian island of Kaua‘i. But after Europeans introduced goats to the isle in the late 1700s, the plant was grazed into near extinction.
Image: NTBG
This Drone Has A Robotic Arm To Pluck Hard-To-Reach Plant Samples!
To conserve species long-term, botanists need to collect samples that they can cultivate in greenhouse nurseries to prevent extinction. Ben Nyberg and researchers from Outreach Robotics have developed a special robotic arm attached to a drone to carefully cut off plant pieces growing in hard-to-reach regions.
Named 'Mamba', the robotic arm hangs on a cable below a drone and is equipped with eight propellers and a cutting mechanism that can be maneuvered to carefully pluck samples from even the tiniest and most delicate of plants! The collection can take less than ten minutes and is operated by scientists remotely — wow! The Mamba arm can even move quickly and precisely in windy environments, to avoid the risk of the drone crashing into cliff walls.
Image: NTBG
Growing The Seed & Cutting Samples To Sustain Endangered Species
Mamba collected 29 samples from 12 endangered species. These include samples of wahine noho kula, a rare violet thought to be extinct on Kauaʻi and only recently rediscovered by the drone! Seeds and cuttings are now growing at the National Tropical Botanical Garden Nursery, while others are stored in the seed bank for future conservation.
To ensure the species make their full-come back, they have to be returned to the wild. Scientists hope to get the plants back into their cliffside terrain within the next year or two. Each plant has a very specific role in the environment, and even a single species can keep an entire ecosystem in balance. Nyberg says that this robot “can be the difference between extinction and survival.”
Today, two in five plant species globally are threatened with extinction — we hope this new robotic drone can change this statistic! We think it’s fantastic that the robotic arm can access risky cliff-side areas that humans may not be able to.
What are your thoughts on this new innovation? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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