Photo caption: Professor Richard Green and Dr Sam Schofield with the new chainsaw drone they鈥檝e developed as part of the UC Vision research team project.
Te Whare W膩nanga o Waitaha | 麻豆传媒团队 (UC) research team UC Vision has spent the last eight years developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) that can use precise tools in complex, dynamic environments.
Led by UC Computer Science and UC Mechanical Engineering , the team demonstrated their prototype chainsaw drone to industry representatives yesterday.
Professor Green says the new drone is a breakthrough with potential to make trimming trees around power lines and pylons safer and more efficient without the need for ladders and scaffolding.聽
鈥淟ast year we developed a drone that was capable of carrying a pruning tool, but we鈥檝e refined and adapted the technology to attach a chainsaw that allows thicker branches to be cut.聽
鈥淲e believe this tool will be transformative across a range of different industries where jobs are inaccessible and hazardous for humans, making them safer, more cost-effective and more efficient. This includes arboriculture, electricity infrastructure industry and civil construction.鈥
The technological challenges of the project included accurate estimation of the drone鈥檚 motion and the branch it is going to cut, as well as achieving the aerodynamics and precise control required for the drone to cut branches autonomously in a wide range of dynamic environments, Professor Green says.
Other researchers involved in the project, funded over five years by a $10 million grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, include UC Senior Research Engineer and UAV expert Dr Sam Schofield and University of Auckland Mechanical Engineering Professor Karl Stol.聽聽
The team is working in collaboration with a number of Kiwi UAV experts, international researchers, and UAV manufacturers and users. Professor Green hopes to have the chainsaw drone ready for commercialisation next year.聽聽
