Lian Pin Koh, an ecologist at the ETH Zürich, and Serge Wich, a biologist at the University of Zürich and PanEco, have built their own unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras, sensors and GPS for $2,000.
They have already used the remote-controlled aircraft to map deforestation, count orang-utans and other endangered species, and get a bird’s eye view of hard-to-access forest areas in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Future plans include adding an infrared camera to take images at night, when most illegal activity takes place.
The pair plan further test flights in Malaysia and Borneo before making a kit that will be available online for other ecologists to continue the fight.
Source: Reuters