Robotic Scarecrow

UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Davis, CA, USA

ID: LUR1

Relevant Skills: mechanical design, robotics, software

Imagine a field of strawberries with bright red fruit hanging from the plants. This is an alluring image to many- humans, insects and birds. Several effective tools are widely available for both humans and insects. In fact, well-developed research programs are in place for insects. Birds on the other hand, remain significant challenges with rather simple, not-so-effective deterrents. For example, shiny tape attached to stakes ‘surprises’ birds with metallic reflections (often seen in vineyards). Another example is bird netting placed over crops as a physical barrier, which is not realistic for crops, like strawberry, that are harvested almost daily. Another method is sound ‘alarms’ imitating the call of birds of prey in order to scare others away. Lastly, the age-old bird deterrent is the scarecrow, perhaps the least effective of all, but entertaining nonetheless.

Birds are difficult to control because they learn quickly and have the ability to fly, overcoming most physical barriers. However, they are easy to scare and surprise. Capitalizing on this idea, I’d like to design a ‘scarecrow’ that is robotic and can patrol a field. This could be a single or troop of robots that can move around the field and scare birds, perhaps using multiple tactics, such as changing directions suddenly, making sounds (birds of prey calls), speeding up quickly, and shooting water. They would need to be able to navigate rows of beds, uneven terrain and occasionally mud. Bird damage is highest in rows along the farm edge.