RoboTropical: An Autonomous Robotic System for Reforestation in Water Saturated Sites

Abstract

Reforestation efforts, in particular those led by NGOs and nonprofits, often struggle in maintaining efficient and reliable workforces, relying heavily upon volunteers and part time contributors. This is to the detriment of meeting project timelines in the face of urgency as the climate crisis grows stronger despite community efforts to improve environmental resilience through reforestation. This project has developed a prototype of an autonomous robot that can reliably dig 500 holes in under six hours in muddy environments where traditional tools are less effective, thereby increasing productivity, freeing up bottlenecks, and reducing reliance on skilled labor or limited workforces. The robot is equipped with a robust power supply, a custom linear actuator, easy to repair modularity, custom digging mechanisms and GNSS sensing capabilities to determine location. The approach was informed by Pro Eco Azuero, a NGO in Panama that does community reforestation work. This is a scalable, manageable, and safe technology equipped with electrical and logical safeguards that could increase any organization’s efficiency in a cost-effective manner. Keywords: robotics, reforestation, Latin America, sustainability, autonomous systems.