The Robot who wants to be a pollinator
Rural performance using robots to monitor pollinators
Description
The project employs participatory action through a rural performance entitled, "The robot who wants to be a pollinator." The narrative of the rural performance centres on a robot who is on a mission to monitor biodiversity in farms. To fulfill the robot's mission, the project leverages robotics through built-in computer vision and machine learning capable of capturing videos and images of pollinating insects. The initiative addresses the issue on pollinator's decline as one of the most threatening problems concerning biodiversity loss. Apart from the development and testing of the robot on field, the project also explored theater presentation where the robot sits at the centre of the performance, reflecting how its adoration for flowers brought it closer to pollinators. The project was developed within the European Commission project STING (Science and Technology for PollinatING insects), a collaboration between the Directorate-General for Environment and the Joint Research Centre.
Technology
The robot was mounted into a 5G-remotely controlled rover. Two cameras attached to the robot are capable of viewing the landscape and macro scale, enabling the monitoring of pollinating insects. The monitoring starts once the farmer sets up the cameras projecting towards the landscape and insect scale level. Through an open-source AI software for pollinators, the robot identifies pollinating insects and produces images and videos. Farmers then receive these exported observation materials. Internet is provided via Wi-Fi through a 5G mobile phone carried by the rover.
Target
The main target users of the project are the farmers hosting the robots as well as citizens visiting the farm on open days.
Business model
The project was a pilot experiment on material deliberation methods for farmers and citizens to tackle pollinators decline. It was commissioned by the Joint Research Centre and funded by the European Commission.
Impact
Rural performance acted as a material deliberation method to address the issue of pollinators decline. Based on the project, the initiative actively engaged social actors, beyond scientists and experts, into (re)framing the challenges in pollinator population collapse. Moreover, the initiative elicited the expression of local and embodied knowledge on pollinators and biodiversity, brought into the discussion subjective values of nature of farmers and citizens, and fostered the initial ideation of local collaborative initiatives to address pollination decline in their territory.
Partners
The Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy; Joint Research Centre EC; European Commission
Four Betters
Better environment
Better life
