Concept: UK-based startup, Dendra Systems, which provides integrated analytics and planting solutions for large-scale ecosystem restoration, has implemented Gen 3, an aerial technology. It is meant for the reforestation of regions across the world that have been destroyed by mining, intensive agriculture, fires, or other disruptive factors using a combination of ecological expertise, artificial intelligence, and technical gear.
Nature of Disruption: Dendra System’s customized drones plant seeds by air using a unique technology for analyzing terrain and ecosystems, accelerating traditional planting methods and making it simpler to reach remote or difficult-to-reach locations. The drones’ cameras can pinpoint a single blade of grass, and they can stay in the air for up to two hours at a time, covering hundreds of hectares in one day. Dendra’s team of ecologists then analyses the data, tagging, and detecting plant species and other critical data gathered in the photos to generate insights and enforce accurate ecological knowledge. ML algorithms utilize the data gathered by the cameras to develop the most effective flightpaths for seeding the ground with different types of trees and other plants carefully picked to complement the ecosystem. Dendra’s drones zig-zag just a few meters over a particular region, dropping seeds with unerring precision and at a pace of roughly one per second, owing to a specially constructed dispenser that hangs beneath the drone and can carry hundreds of seeds at once.
Outlook: In recent years, wildfires have become more intense. Australia lost an estimated 46 million acres to bushfires in 2019-2020. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) projects that more than 3 billion vertebrates were harmed in one research on the immediate environmental effect, with some endangered species being driven to extinction. Dendra Systems has penetrated more than 40 projects in 11 countries with the sole purpose of reforesting the globe. They’re also working on visual-recognition AI that can perform many of these jobs, making the process even faster. The firm currently employs 50 people and has secured more than $10 mn in series A investment. The company has been focused on being the epitome of endorsing the circular, lean, inclusive, clean (CLIC) economy, and encouraging the transition from the Wasteful, Idle, Lopsided, and Dirty (WILD) economy, which lies behind the deforestation of recent years.
This article was originally published in Verdict.co.uk