DutchNews.nl,
Thursday 28 August 2014
A Dutch company is developing robot birds to protect crops and chase away other birds, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.
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| A remote controlled hawk in action. Photo: Clear Flight Solutions |
A Dutch company is developing robot birds to protect crops and chase away other birds, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.
Robot birds
are not new but Clear Flight Solutions hopes to take its own product to market
mid next year. Trials are currently underway on a rubbish tip in Twente where
the remote controlled birds are being used to keep gulls at bay.
There are
dozens of places where the robot hawks and falcons can be used, the Volkskrant says. For example, tens of thousands of geese which congregate around
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport could be chased away rather than gassed.
Gulls
The robot
birds, with a wing span of up to one metre, could also be used to reduce the
nuisance caused by gulls and pigeons in cities which become accustomed to other
attempts to scare them off.
‘Birds are
disturbed by kites or loud noises a couple of times but then they get used to
it,’ company founder Nico Nijenhuis told the paper.
‘But birds
are genetically programmed to be afraid of birds of prey. Our birds not only
look like birds of prey but act like them. They chase other birds at 80 kph and
make it very clear: I am the predator and you are the prey.’
Before the
birds can be used in the field, a number of changes need to be made. For
example, Dutch law bans the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial aims unless
they have a permit.
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