A new type of AI-powered agricultural drone developed by Swedish tech startup FLOX Robotics is set for commercial rollout following the completion of its first delivery to a local farmer.
FLOX Robotics AI agriculture drone. Credit: FLOX Robotics
Hugin's maiden voyage took place on April 1. Credit: FLOX Robotics
The first of the firm's Hugin drones was delivered to local landowner Nils Lidbaum, who has been having issues with property and crop damage from wild boar, deer and big bird species. The drone is set to help monitor his farm to ensure he can best prevent these animals from further affecting his yields and protecting his property.
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FLOX has designed its machines to "reimagine" the relationship between farmers and wildlife. Their primary purpose is to monitor fields and prevent wildlife from destroying crops while also ensuring that farm expansions do not encroach on natural habitats.
Equipped with AI flight management and wildlife identification software as well as an ultrasound repellant system to scare away pests, the drones can act as a form of flying scarecrow while surveying the area.
Other applications include overseeing reforestation efforts and protecting wildlife from "collisions" with trains, trucks and cars.
These drones stand to increase farming yield and protect young forests while also playing its part in ensuring ecosystems are not damaged through overfarming or unnecessary animal deaths.
The drones can also provide data for wildlife conservationists, who have a vested interest in ensuring animals do not encroach on a farmer's land.
This delivery marks the first step in a 12-month commercial phase where similar drones will be shipped out to at least a dozen other customers allowing the firm to fine-tune its technology across a multitude of different habitats.
Billed as AI-powered autonomous drones, they can operate independently of a controller, meaning they can survey an area constantly until they need recharging. Hugin, and presumably the other drones, is battery-powered which means it operates at zero emissions.
"We say what we do, and then we pride ourselves to strive to also do what we say - we are over the moon that we managed to deliver on the earlier commitment we gave to Nils as well as to the public at large and shipped our solution this morning,” said FLOX CEO Sara Nozkova.
“Nils is customer 1 for FLOX so first of all I want to thank him for believing in us. The commercial test phase enables us to fully test our solution in critical areas such as durability, ruggedness and some of the technical real-world applications, see how the hardware holds up over extended periods of usage, and provide our AI systems with the ability to gain huge amounts of experience across a wide variety of different lands,” she added.
Hugin AI drone. Credit: FLOX Robotics
Hugin in flight. Credit: FLOX Robotics
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The startup was first founded in 2020 at the Royal Institute of Technology with support from KTH Innovation, in a bid to mediate the precarious relationship between humanity and the environment in the Nordic countries.
Landowner Lidbaum first contacted FLOX in the summer of 2021, wanting to monitor the damage done to his land - a farm, located south of Stockholm - from wildlife.
"The founders visited me in autumn that year to learn more about the property and my situation in regards to wildlife damages. Since then we have been in touch on a regular basis and now we are here – deploying [its] first-ever commercial system," he said. As a result of the deal, he was given the first of the Hugin drones.
The rollout of new drones is expected to happen every month to a new customer over the next year. Each new sale will allow the startup to refine its tech and improve the process, it claims.
Nozkova also added that the firm was on its way to securing its first wave of funding, which will aid in helping it scale up.
While it will be primarily relegated to Scandinavia for now, the firm is currently booking slots for expansion into other countries such as the US, where farmers also have trouble with local wildlife.
Conversely, it is expected that at least 1.3 million square miles of habitat will be converted into farmland by 2050, which presents a threat to local wildlife. As such, monitoring the use of this land may be imperative to protect local ecosystems.
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Preventing habitat destruction is a huge part of making the agricultural sector more sustainable in the long term.
The tech will continue to be monitored and improve as the rollout continues to more customers.
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