$25K Prize For Winner Of Anti-Poaching Drone Design

Kashmir Robotics, an organization dedicated to use drone technology to combat poachers, is holding a contest asking the public to help design an affordable drone surveillance system for Wildlife Reserves. Poaching is a huge problem around the world. Species of Rhinoceros and Elephants have been nearly wiped out because of poaching. Poachers can get upwards of $300,000 for a rhino tusk, incentivizing a lot of crime. The animals are left for dead and killed only for their ivory. There are many human casualties as well, caused by the poaching industry. With so much money on the line, many poachers are perfectly willing to kill park rangers and other security, often volunteering to protect these animals.

With more and more wildlife being tracked with GPS technology, some poachers are attempting to hack into the GPS tracking data to locate these endangered animals even easier. In order to more effectively fight these poachers, many are looking to drone technology for safe surveillance. The major benefit of drone surveillance is that it reduces the chance of human casualty. The other major benefit is that drones are often discreet and can monitor a large area of space fairly quickly. Drones are currently used to monitor conflict zones in the middle east, and they do a great job of spotting soldiers moving at night (which is also how poachers tend to approach). Unfortunately, these drones are exorbitantly expensive, costing around $4 million each.

Wildlife conservation departments don’t have anywhere near those kinds of funds. Here is where the contest comes in. Kashmir Robotics is calling all technology enthusiasts to team up with up to four other people and design a surveillance drone for under $3K. The deadline for entries is December 1st, 2013, and the contest lasts through October 4th, 2014. The grand prize includes a 10-day trip to Kruger National Park and $25,000. Hopefully, Kashmir Robotics will end up with a cost-effective surveillance solution to the poaching problem.

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$25K Prize For Winner Of Anti-Poaching Drone Design