The problem of pest bird control is a thorny one for wildlife managers. A useful tool for controlling the numbers of pest birds is egg oiling, a method to render eggs non-viable, but prior use was restricted to ground nesting species. Common ravens are serious pests of agriculture and attack many threatened and endangered species but nest in locations out of reach from the ground. Three years of development work on remote oiling of ravens eggs by team partner Hardshell Labs has resulted in a drone system capable of reaching all raven nests, including in electrical transmission towers. BWCS has worked extensively on artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of recognizing a variety of natural objects and organisms. We will join forces to create a remote egg-oiling (REO) drone capable of autonomously navigating to electrical tower raven nests, transmitting images of the nest to an operator on the ground and, when triggered, to deliver a stream of oil accurately to the eggs. The addition of AI technology to the REO drone promises to greatly expand the use of the method by wildlife managers and utilities as it will lower the barriers to its use by a wide array of field personnel.
Benefit: The egg oiler product is intended for military, government and private markets to utilize in controlling nesting habits and reducing pest bird populations. The product promotes the awareness on the part of pest birds that treated sites are unfit for reproductive efforts. Each market has similar needs but different use cases that we will address. The military market is focused on providing base operations the ability to manage pest birds and their nests on various structures without having to employ specialists or conduct procedures that could be deemed high risk. The military is not limited to this scenario, but we see this as the most advantageous use in saving time and money. Government agencies would deploy the units to clear nests and pest birds from both structures and areas where their presence conflicts with conservation goals or other activities in the area. Similar to the military this application would also not require specially trained staff to operate or perform tasks deemed high risk. Government agencies can be federal, state and local and the utilization can be broad since these groups have a vast amount of needs and uses. The private sector market would encompass many different types of customers all with a shared interest to remove pest birds and nests from areas or facilities that are affected by their presence. Some examples of consumer markets would be power companies, airports, landfill operators, oil and gas companies, refuge managers, agriculture and aquaculture interests, sea ports and various other commercial markets with physical assets that attract pest birds and suffer from their presence. Overall all three markets would receive the following
Benefits: 1. Improved safety of application. 2. Reduced application time thereby saving labor hours. 3. Increased efficacy of treatment and successful removal of predatory bird populations. 4. Reduced cost of application efforts or increased frequency of application efforts.
Keywords: Autonomous UAV, Autonomous UAV, Egg Oiler, bird control, BASH, AI
