Daredevil Drones Find Nearly Extinct Plants Hiding in Cliffs

Reuters

Daisy Chung; Gloria Dickie; Simon Scarr

December 10, 2022

Scientists at Hawaii's nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) and the state's Division of Forestry and Wildlife are using drones to find and collect samples of nearly extinct plants in cliffs and other hard-to-reach locations. NTBG's Ben Nyberg and researchers at Canadian aerospace company Outreach Robotics developed the Multi-Use Aerial Manipulator Bidirectionally Actuated (Mamba), which dangles on a cable below a drone. The remote-piloted robot arm can detach from the drone to pluck plant samples in perilous regions as far as 4 meters (13 feet) away. Mamba has so far collected 29 cuttings or seeds from 12 endangered plant species on the island of Kauai. Nyberg suggested the robot "can be the difference between extinction and survival" for such plant species.