Wanzen-Drohne - Multi-sensor networks and agricultural drones for the control of invasive bugs in fruit growing

Invasive insect pests, such as the marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys, pose a major problem for Austrian agriculture due to their high damage potential and are increasingly responsible for massive crop losses in Slovenia, Italy and Austria. Currently, there is no approved pesticide against this pest and therefore alternative control methods are of great importance for the control of this pest in the future. In this project, innovative sensor networks for pest monitoring of invasive bugs are being developed so that a flying drone can carry out spatially limited control of invasive bugs in combination with a ground robot. This Asian bug species reflexively drops to the ground as soon as it is exposed to strong substrate vibrations: a behavior that is to be exploited for pest control in this innovative project. The targeted detection of this bug species can be carried out using a large number of IoT-enabled acceleration sensors, which recognize the species' own vibrations and report the bug infestation to a central instance. Repeated detection of species-specific bug signals triggers an autonomous robot deployment in which a ground robot brings a drone close to the activated sensor and the drone generates strong substrate vibrations on site. The ground robot then sucks up the bugs from the ground using a specially developed suction device. The technical developments of this project will make it possible to reduce the use of pesticides in the future or to dispense with them altogether. The results of this project therefore represent an important contribution to securing the long-term supply of agricultural goods in Austria.