As you probably know, the increasing temperatures as created a generation of wild fires that are destroying the forests of California, Chile, Spain, Asia, and other different dry areas of the world.

With this problem in mind we have created this hexacopter to perform Automatic Aerial Restorations. We used digital fabrication techniques, like laser cutting for the frame and 3D printing for the seed dispenser, and we released everything with a Creative Commons license to allow conservation organizations to replicate it.

This is the electronics that we used:

This configuration allow us to fly 41 minutes without payload, but since the sowing operation takes 10 minutes to empty the seeds, a smaller batteries are recommended. The plywood frame is very cheap to fabricate and only weights 1.8 Kg.

Specifiations:

• Total weight without payload: 9,7Kg.
• Flying time without payload: 41min.
• Maximum payload: 8kg of seeds.
• Autonomy: Can sow in autopilot one hectare in 10 minutes, around 5 seeds by square meter, with a speed of 5 m/s.
• Production cost: 1961,75 US$

We made step by step instructions, shematics, and videos for the Epilog Instructable contest that you can found here:

Dronecoria: Drone for Forest Restoration

Hope you like the project, since is open source, you can contribute too! We want to organize the community around in the Wikifactory page of the project.

You can read more info also in our site:

dronecoria.org