Chainsaw drone could help improve staff health and safety

Researchers at the University of Canterbury has spent the last eight years developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) that can use precise tools in complex, dynamic environments.

Led by UC Computer Science Professor Richard Green and UC Mechanical Engineering Professor Dan Zhao, the team recently demonstrated their prototype chainsaw drone to industry representatives.

Professor Green says the new drone is a breakthrough with potential to make trimming trees around power lines and pylons safer and more efficient without the need for ladders and scaffolding. “Last year we developed a drone that was capable of carrying a pruning tool, but we’ve refined and adapted the technology to attach a chainsaw that allows thicker branches to be cut.

“We believe this tool will be transformative across a range of different industries where jobs are inaccessible and hazardous for humans, making them safer, more cost-effective and more efficient. This includes arboriculture, electricity infrastructure industry and civil construction.”

The technological challenges of the project included accurate estimation of the drone’s motion and the branch it is going to cut, as well as achieving the aerodynamics and precise control required for the drone to cut branches autonomously in a wide range of dynamic environments, Professor Green says.

Other researchers involved in the project, funded over five years by a $10 million grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, include UC Senior Research Engineer and UAV expert Dr Sam Schofield and University of Auckland Mechanical Engineering Professor Karl Stol.

The team is working in collaboration with a number of Kiwi UAV experts, international researchers, and UAV manufacturers and users. Professor Green hopes to have the chainsaw drone ready for commercialisation next year.

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Source & image credit: University of Canterbury