An Australian mining group has advanced the future of mobility (in mining at least) with the deployment of a fleet of fully-autonomous Ford Rangers at one of its mines. Fortescue Metals Group has retrofitted four Rangers at its Christmas Creek mine in Western Australia with autonomous systems created by the company’s Technology and Automation team, to remove the need for …

Skydio, the leading U.S. drone manufacturer and world leader in autonomous flight, today announced that Skydio X2 has received the CES® 2021 Best of Innovation Award for Drones and Unmanned Systems. The announcement was made ahead of the first-ever, all-digital CES 2021, the world’s most influential technology event, happening Jan. 11–14, 2021. The CES Innovation Awards program, owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, …

Lidar technology is synonymous with 3D point clouds. What are the latest trends for the four most popular Lidar platforms, and how are the developments benefiting end users of the point cloud data? Within the spatial industry there are four popular platforms for producing point clouds: 1) Airborne Lidar which captures data from above using aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles …

Humans and computers generated more than 64 zettabytes of data in 2020 – that’s the equivalent of 6.4 trillion gigabytes or simply put, more images or videos than the average person takes in their lifetime. Such a massive figure not only reflects what IDC calls ‘unusually high’ growth of data as people lived and worked almost entirely home, but it …

Margules Groome, on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), are currently undertaking the 2020 update to the New Zealand wood availability forecasts (WAF). These forecasts build on the National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) data, provided by New Zealand plantation forest owners, to predict the potential wood availability at both national and regional levels. These forecasts are …

Through a combination of predictive algorithms, prescriptive optimization-based modelling, and a live operational planning system, artificial intelligence (AI) can enable continuous improvement throughout the forestry supply chain and provide real competitive advantage in fast-changing markets. Global industries are benefiting from a confluence of improved data acquisition and management platforms and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For the forest industry, …

UNSW Canberra Space’s M2 CubeSat satellites successfully launched with Rocket Lab’s ‘They Go Up So Fast’ mission from New Zealand earlier today, representing a significant step forward in Australia’s sovereign space capabilities. The M2 mission, a collaboration between UNSW Canberra Space and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), brings together emerging technologies that deliver advanced capabilities in Earth observation, maritime surveillance, …

Fortunately, a full series of technology events and shows are being planned in Australasia by the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA). A full list of events can be found on the FIEA website. This week, Rotorua hosted the annual MobileTECH Ag 2021 event and in just three weeks’ time, forest managers and harvesting contractors will be coming into Rotorua for …

DroneSeed, the innovative drone planting company that has presented at the last two ForestTECH events and has undertaken operational trials in forests a number of local locations, has been recognised by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in Robotics in 2021.DRONESEED – For replanting fire-ravaged forests We’ve just seen the worst wildfire season on record in the …

Starlink is a much-anticipated satellite internet service scheduled to launch for New Zealand and Australian customers later this year. Its aim is to bring affordable, broadband-equivalent data speeds to anyone, no matter where they are located around the world. This could be a game-changer for rural industries like forestry. The service, backed by Elon Musk, is provided through thousands of …

Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency, together with the forest industry and researchers, invests 20 million SEK (approx. 2 million EURO) on development of an autonomous planting system, the Autoplant. The project is expected to improve forest planting with regard to precision, environmental impact and working environment. Autoplant is the second step in a research program that aims to solve societal challenges …

Invitation for a short survey for academic research surrounding forest inventory metrics and capture. RMIT University, located in Melbourne Australia, is currently conducting a short, anonymous survey surrounding the current requirements and challenges associated with the collection of forest inventory and the opportunities that low-cost 3D imaging technologies may present. It is hoped that this survey will be able to …

Robots help us in many ways – from assembly lines to looking after the elderly. Now they’re turning their attention to combating climate change by helping to plant trees. Milrem Robotics, an Estonian company which started off building autonomous tanks, has developed an autonomous robot forester that can plant and nurture young trees. The new robot planter carries up to …

Forests are crucial for global efforts to prevent dangerous climate change. As the global community works out what to prioritize in this quest against catastrophe, figuring out which forests are gaining and losing carbon – and why – is an important piece of the puzzle. Until now, however, data on carbon gains and losses in global forests has been piecemeal …

Australia will develop a nationally consistent bushfire modelling and prediction capability under an agreement announced between CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and AFAC, the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services. The partnership involves the development of Spark Operational, a cutting-edge bushfire simulation tool based on CSIRO’s ‘Spark’ fire prediction platform. Fire and emergency services agencies across Australia will be …

Germany’s UP42 has announced that data from the planned Australian LatConnect 60 satellite constellation will be available on its geospatial marketplace platform. Perth-based LatConnect 60 intends to launch a constellation of mid-inclined orbit remote sensing satellites in early 2022. The initial two ‘smart’ small satellites will be equipped with onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) for data pre-processing and advanced tip-and-cue functionality, …

New Zealand’s tech sector is struggling to get enough skilled staff despite strong job growth and thousands of new tech jobs being created every year, a new survey says. The Kiwi economy is being seriously restricted by a digital skills mismatch during difficult covid times, it says. Digital technology businesses are having problems attracting, developing and retaining people with tech …

Trimble Forestry announced recently that its widely used Log Information Management System (LIMS) now integrates seamlessly with the Connected Forest™ Xchange (CFX). The integration allows load ticket information from LIMS to sync to the cloud-based CFX portal, which can be accessed from any device, any place.   With CFX’s flexibility, easy-to-view dashboards, and mobile accessibility, key operational data, such as electronic …