Junglekeepers is a US non-profit organisation that seeks to protect 55,000 acres of Amazon rainforest and reverse deforestation.
Through ABB RobotStudio Cloud technology, ABB experts simulate, refine and deploy the programming required for Yumi’s tasks in the jungle from 7,460 miles away in Västerås, Sweden.
At the lab, Yumi carries out the seed planting process. It digs a hole in the soil, drops the seed in, compacts the soil and marks it with a colour-coded tag.
Automating this task allows Junglekeeper volunteers to focus on other duties such as patrolling the area to deter illegal loggers and educating locals on the preservation of the rainforest and planting mature saplings.
Creating a remote and autonomous cobot installation also overcomes the difficulty of finding people willing to stay and work in the distant jungle location. After its initial installation, Yumi can carry out its tasks autonomously, with only trouble shooting as needed.
Moshin Kazmi, co-founder of Junglekeepers, said: “As of right now, we have lost 20 percent of the total area of Amazon rainforest; without using technology today, conservation will be at a standstill. Having Yumi at our base is a great way to expose our rangers to new ways of doing things. It accelerates and expands our operations and advances our mission.”