Mass Afforestation Drone

Category-Robotics & Automation / Aerospace & Defense Technologies

Industry Classification:

Unmanned aviation vehicles, Agriculture equipment and forestry equipment

Applications:

Manufacture of Drones for agriculture and afforestation applications.

Market report:

Agriculture Drones Market is projected to grow from USD 6.357 Billion in 2024 to USD 36.602 Billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 24.46%.

Unmanned aerial vehicles also known as drones are recently being used to perform tasks that require delivery of granulated materials over a large area.
Conventional drones are pre-filled with material, such as seeds, and are shot from a distance after analyzing the soil aerially. However, this causes crowding of the seeds at a particular spot leading lower germination rates.
Moreover, in conventional methods the area of land targeted has to be first analyzed manually to ensure the seeds are apt for that area. In afforestation work, it would be better if the soil is scooped and seed sowed at fixed gaps which requires human intervention.
There is a need to reduce human intervention and deliver payloads based on external conditions or pre-determined requirements.

The invention comprises a device adapted to be fitted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the device comprising of a suspension system fixed to the base of the UAV, a payload regulator attached below the suspension system, a robotic arm connected to the suspension system that is adapted to receive the payload through it
The robotic arm has a rack and pinion mechanism to extend the arm to desired length, and a control system
The control system is connected to motors powered by a power source and adapted to operate the payload regulator, suspension system, and the robotic arm.
The system connecting the arm to the drone uses simple springs that locks/unlocks by means of a scotch-yoke mechanism that helps in stabilizing the drone while carrying suspended load.
The drone would fly over arable barren landscapes and first gauge the soil parameters using a penetrometer and prepare the soil while deciding the appropriate seeds before carrying out the seeding process.
A multicompartment seed box is used with sensors helps in mass afforestation by dropping seeds with mechanism to scoop the soil and sow the seeds

The invention allows coverage of large areas while enabling customization for individual locations, whereas conventional dispersal methods are not known to drop granulated materials at multiple individual locations over a large tract.
Conventional drones carrying heavy seed packages may become unstable during flight. Whereas, the invented technology uses springs that suspend the seed box from the drone while ensuring extra stability using a scotch yoke mechanism.
The present invention uses a seed package – customized seed which would be infused with nutrients to supplement the growth. Whereas, conventional drones lack such features
The present invention provides a unique structure to plant a specific number of seeds at regular intervals to prevent wastage of seeds while ensuring the correct selection of seeds without requirement of any manual intervention

Prof. Manish Anand

Department of Mechanical Engineering

TRL 1

Basic principles observed and reported

Technology Transfer