Main idea

What are this threats? According to Air Shepered website poaching generate an estimated 70 billion dollars benefice a year on black market. One pound of Rhino horn, which is associated to medical myths, is estimated to be worth 30 000 dollar on Asian black market.

Why?

I believe that the implantation of a Fab lab could create an ecosystem which benefit both the conservation effort and the local communities.

Example: the Air Shepherd project

In Fab lab, members could create simple to build, yet functional, fixed wing drones. Add training for local pilots, and the community could make a fleet of remotely controlled drones to fight again poachers at night.

This surveillance drones could also be used by day for FPV (First Person View) tourism. The advantages are the following:

medium altitude flight could allow for stunning aerial view and video of wildlife and local flora (for tourists, bloggers, documentaries), with less impact then traditional safari using cars.

Sharing publicly the video could help researchers monitor biology status (i.e. abnormal changes in fauna or flora).

Locally trained pilot and ranger could provide dual controls for remote or on the spot tourists that could choose the zone to explore.

Locally trained pilot could enforce local law on drones and assure safety for the flight.

This could create an alternative to poaching for local communities to earn money.

How?

Isn't this project (way) too ambitious for fab Academy time frame?

Rational answer

I am planning to adapt a design of a fixed wings drone to a modular fixed wing drone.
This should allows to avoid full deadlock on the project by switching from one module to another module.

I will not initially start from scratch for my first design (but I will teach how to do it).
I have some technical background with drones:
- Outside of this gap semester I am a PhD student working on how to develop a strategy for searching and tracking multiples moving targets using a fleet of cooperative drones. More info in this page.
- I am a member of a club for model aircraft making and flying. I have already make and fly drone from kit. I can also use the knowledge and advice from expert pilots (one is a professional fixed wing drone pilot for the army) and expert builders (some of them build and fly radio controlled jet aircraft, with working replica of a turbojet engine).
I will follow the steps of the book [1] to design a small fixed wing drone and will adapt them to meet the assignments of Fab Academy 2020. See this page for my planning.

Less rational answer

Modified citations

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars [in dark cold outer space]”.

Which is OK because “In space, no one can hear you [cry]”

image: 1_home_leon_leon-reboul_resources_images_MainIdeaFinalProject_panicInSpaceGalaxyTrucker.jpg

Figure 2: In space no one can hear you scream [after two hours trying to solve a bug in your code]
(Card from the excellent board game Galaxy Trucker)

Original citations

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars”, attributed to Oscar Wild
“In space, no one can hear you scream”, tagline for the movie Alien, Ridley Scott's 1979.

Covid 19 lockdown

It is where the switch happen between first and second idea for the final project.

The Digiscope Fab Lab was closed for 3 months due to Covid lockdown here in France.

I was planning to make several drones versions and test them at the club location.

But the club was also close during lockdown.

So I ended with 2 days, instead of a full week, for each assignment from week 7 to 18 and then keep one week for the final project.

Note: the design I made during Covid lockdown needed adjustements that can only be checked after the part is produced with the machine of the Fab Lab.