Robot coyotes eyed by U.S. army to protect fighter jets from wildlife

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American researchers have come up with a novel idea to keep birds and other wildlife away from fighter jets stationed at airfields across the U.S.

Robot coyotes.

Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) released an image of three unmanned ground vehicles with life-size plastic figures mounted on top in a grassy field near the U.S. navy’s elite Blue Angels fighter jet demonstration team.

In other words, they repurposed the scarecrow and replaced it with fake predators.

The centre said in a social media post they are aiming to help “biologists and managers at military airfields deter wildlife, particularly problematic birds, from posing a risk to flight crews, aircraft and operations.”

Last year, the centre began collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center in Ohio to test the effectiveness of Coyote Rovers at scaring off wildlife through several trials.

Shea Hammond, a research biologist for ERDC, said he and Jacob Jung, an ERDC research wildlife biologist, have worked on the developing the Coyote Rovers over the last five years.

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Hammond believes that the technology could also be used by civil infrastructure authorities as well as the military.

“They basically have the same functionality as any other drone,” Hammond told the Army Times. “We can program areas we want to exclude it from going, such as the airfield itself. We had worked on docking stations and recharging stations so it can operate on a programmed timer, so it can have utility for multiple days.”

Hammond said scientists could employ artificial intelligence and machine-learning skills in future versions of the Coyote Rovers.

In the past, dogs were sometimes used to deter wildlife from getting near expensive military aircraft, equipment and buildings, Hammond noted. But that job could be done better by these coyote robots, he added.