WeRobotics Global has become a premier forum for social good robotics. The feedback featured below was unsolicited. On June 1, 2017, we convened our first, annual global event, bringing together 34 organizations to New York City (full list below) to shape the global agenda and future use of robotics in the social good sector.  WeRobotics Global was kindly hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation, the first donor to support our efforts. They opened the event with welcome remarks and turned it over to Patrick Meier from WeRobotics who provided an overview of WeRobotics and the big picture context for social sector robotics.

I’ve been to countless remote sensing conferences over the past 30 years but WeRobotics Global absolutely ranks as the best event I’ve been to – Remote Sensing Expert

The event was really mind-blowing. I’ve participated in many workshops over the past 20 years. WeR Global was by far the most insightful and practical. It is also amazing how closely together everyone is working — irrespective of who is working where (NGO, UN, private sector, donor). I’ve never seen such a group of people come together this away. – Humanitarian Professional

WeRobotics Global is completely different to any development meeting or workshop I’ve been to in recent years. The discussions flowed seamlessly between real world challenges, genuine bottom-up approaches and appropriate technology solutions. Conversations were always practical and strikingly transparent. This was a highly unusual event. – International Donor

The first panel featured our Flying Labs Coordinators from Tanzania (Yussuf), Peru (Juan) and Nepal (Uttam). Each shared the hard work they’ve been doing over the past 6-10 months on localizing and applying robotics solutions. Yussuf spoke about the lab’s use of aerial robotics for disaster damage assessment following the earthquake in Bukoba and for coastal monitoring, environmental monitoring and forestry management. He emphasized the importance of community engagement and closed with new projects that Tanzania Flying Labs is working on such as mangrove monitoring for the Department of Forestry. Juan presented the work of the labs in the Amazon Rainforest, which is a joint effort with the Peruvian Ministry of Health. Together, they are field-testing the use of affordable and locally repairable flying robots for the delivery of antivenom and other medical payload between local clinics and remote villages. Juan noted that Peru Flying Labs is gearing up to carry out a record number of flight tests this summer using a larger and more diverse fleet of flying robots. Last but not least, Uttam showed how Nepal Flying Labs has been using flying robots for agriculture monitoring, damage assessment and mapping of property rights. He also gave an overview of the social entrepreneurship training and business plan competition recently organized by Nepal Flying Labs. This business incubation training has resulted in the launch of 4 new Nepali start-up companies focused on Robotics-as-a-Service. 

The following images provide highlights from each of our Flying Labs: Tanzania, Peru and Nepal.

The second panel featured talks on sector based solutions starting with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). The Federation (Aarathi) spoke about their joint project with WeRobotics; looking at cross-sectoral needs for various robotics solutions in the South Pacific. IFRC is exploring at the possibility of launching a South Pacific Flying Labs with a strong focus on women and girls. Pix4D (Lorenzo) addressed the role of aerial robotics in agriculture, giving concrete examples of successful applications while providing guidance to our Flying Labs Coordinators. The Wall Street Journal (Sally) spoke about the use of aerial robotics in news gathering and investigative journalism. She specifically emphasized the importance of using flying robots for storytelling. Duke Marine Labs (David) closed the panel with an overview of their projects in nature conservation and marine life protection, highlighting their use of machine learning for automated feature detection for real-time analysis.

Panel number three addressed the transformation of transportation. UNICEF (Judith) highlighted the field tests they have been carrying out in Malawi; using cargo robotics to transport HIV samples in order to accelerate HIV testing and thus treatment. UNICEF has also launched an air corridor in Malawi to enable further field-testing of flying robots. MSF (Oriol) shared their approach to cargo delivery using aerial robotics. They shared examples from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and emphasized the importance of localizing appropriate robotics solutions that can be maintained locally. MSF also called for the launch of PNG Flying Labs. IAEA was unable to attend WeR Global, so Patrick and Adam from WeRobotics gave the talk instead. WeRobotics is teaming up with IAEA to design and test a release mechanism for sterilized mosquitos in order to reduce the incidence of Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses. More here. Finally, Llamasoft (Sid) closed the panel with a strong emphasis on the need to collect and share structured data to accurately carry out comparative cost-benefit-analyses of cargo delivery via flying robots versus conventional means. Sid used the analogy of self-driving cars to highlight how problematic the current lack of data vis-a-vis reliably evaluating the impact of cargo robotics.

The fourth and final panel went beyond aerial robotics. Digger (Thomas) showed how they convert heavy construction vehicles into semi-autonomous platforms to clear landmines and debris in conflict zones like Iraq and Syria. Science in the Wild (Ulyana) was alas unable to attend the event, so Patrick from WeRobotics gave the talk instead. This focused on the use of swimming robots to monitor glacial lakes in the Himalaya. The purpose of the effort is to identify cracks in the lake floors before they trigger what local villagers call the tsunamis of the Himalaya. OpenROV (David) gave a talk on the use of diving robots, sharing real-world examples and providing exciting updates on the new Trident diving robot. Planet Labs (Andrew) gave the closing talk, highlighting how space robotics (satellites) are being used across a wide range of social good projects. He emphasized the importance of integrating both aerial and satellite imagery to support social good projects.

The final session at WeR Global comprised breakout groups to identify next steps for WeRobotics and the social good sector more broadly. Many quality insights and recommendations were shared during the report back. One such recommendation was to hold WeR Global again, and sooner rather than later. So we look forward to organizing WeRobotics Global 2018. We will be providing updates via our blog and email list. We will also use our blog and email list to share select videos of the individual talks from Global 2017 along with their respective slide decks.

In the meantime, a big thanks to all participants and speakers for making Global 2017 such an unforgettable event. And sincerest thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation for hosting us at their headquarters in New York City.

Our partners at the joint FAO/IAEA Insect Pest Control Lab in Vienna, Austria have been working to perfect the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in order to sterilize and release male mosquitos in Zika hotspots. Releasing millions of said male mosquitos increases competition for female mosquitos, making it more difficult for non-sterilized males to find a mate.

We learned last year at a USAID Co-Ideation Workshop that this technique can reduce the overall mosquito population in a given area by 90%. The way this works is by releasing millions of sterilized mosquitos using cars, helicopters and/or planes, or even backpacks.

Our approach seeks to complement and extend (not replace) these existing delivery methods. The challenge with manned aircraft is that they are expensive to operate and maintain. They may also not be able to target areas with great accuracy given the altitudes they have to fly at.
Cars are less expensive, but they rely on ground infrastructure. This can be a challenge in some corners of the world when roads become unusable due to rainy seasons or natural disasters. What’s more, not everyone lives on or even close to a road.

Our IAEA colleagues thus envision establishing small mosquito breeding labs in strategic regions in order to release sterilized male mosquitos and reduce the overall mosquito population in select hotspots. The idea would be to use both ground and aerial release methods with cars and flying robots.

The real technical challenge here, besides breeding millions of sterilized mosquitos, is actually not the flying robot (drone/UAV) but rather the engineering that needs to go into developing a release mechanism that attaches to the flying robot. In fact, we’re more interested in developing a release mechanism that will work with any number of flying robots, rather than having a mechanism work with one and only one drone/UAV. Aerial robotics is evolving quickly and it is inevitable that drones/UAVs available in 6-12 months will have greater range and payload capacity than today. So we don’t want to lock our release mechanism into a platform that may be obsolete by the end of the year. So for now we’re just using a DJI Matrice M600 Pro so we can focus on engineering the release mechanism.

Developing this release mechanism is anything but trivial. Ironically, mosquitos are particularly fragile. So if they get damaged while being released, game over. What’s more, in order to pack one million mosquitos (about 2.5kg in weight) into a particularly confined space, they need to be chilled or else they’ll get into a brawl and damage each other, i.e., game over. (Recall the last time you were stuck in the middle seat in Economy class on a transcontinental flight). This means that the release mechanism has to include a reliable cooling system. But wait, there’s more. We also need to control the rate of release, i.e., to control how many thousands of mosquitos are released per unit of space and time in order to drop said mosquitos in a targeted and homogenous manner. Adding to the challenge is the fact that mosquitos need time to unfreeze during free fall so they can fly away and do their thing, i.e., before they hit the ground or else, game over.

We’ve already started testing our early prototype using “mosquito substitutes” like cumin and anise as the latter came recommended by mosquito experts. Next month, we’ll be at the FAO/IAEA Pest Control Lab in Vienna to test the release mechanism indoors using dead and live mosquitos. We’ll then have 3 months to develop a second version of the prototype before heading to Latin America to field test the release mechanism with our Peru Flying Labs. One of these tests will involve the the integration of the flying robot and the release mechanism in terms of both hardware and software. In other words, we’ll be testing the integrated system over different types of terrain and weather conditions in Peru specifically.

We are already developing the mission control app pictured above to program our autonomous flights. The app will let the operator decide how many sterilized mosquitos to release at any given time and location. Our field tests in Peru will also seek to identify the optimal flight parameters for the targeted and homogenous delivery of sterilized mosquitos. For example, what is the optimal speed and altitude of the flying robot to ensure that the mosquitos are released over the intended areas?

Our Peru Flying Labs has already developed expertise and capacity in cargo drone delivery, most recently in projects in the Amazon Rainforest with the Ministry of Health (more here). This new Zika reduction project –and in particularly the upcoming field tests — will enable us to further build our Peruvian team’s capacity in cargo space. The plan is for Peru Flying Labs to operate the flying robots and release mechanisms as need once we have a more robust version of the release mechanism. The vision here is to have a fleet of flying robots at our Flying Labs equipped with release mechanisms in order to collectively release millions of sterilized mosquitos over relatively large areas. And because our Peruvian colleagues are local, they can rapidly deploy as needed.

For now, though, our WeRobotics Engineering Team (below) is busy developing the prototype out of our Zurich office. So if you happen to be passing through, definitely let us know, we’d love to show you the latest and give you a demo. We’ll also be reaching out the Technical University of Peru who are members of our Peru Flying Labs to engage with their engineers as we get closer to the field tests in country.

As an aside, our USAID colleagues recently encouraged us to consider an entirely separate, follow up project totally independently of IAEA whereby we’d be giving rides to Wolbachia treated mosquitos. Wolbachia is the name of bacteria that is used to infect male mosquitos so they can’t reproduce. IAEA does not focus on Wolbachia at all, but other USAID grantees do. Point being, the release mechanism could have multiple applications. For example, instead of releasing mosquitos, the mechanism could scatter seeds. Sound far-fetched? Think again.

This original blog post can be found on WeRobotics website here.

Robotics undoubtedly has the potential to improve lives in the developing world. However, with limited budgets and expertise on the ground, putting this technology in place is no small task. Step forwards WeRobotics, a new Swiss/American NGO dedicated to meeting this goal through the creation of in-country ‘flying labs’. Co-founder Adam Klaptocz explains all.

Hey Adam. Let’s start with this: what is WeRobotics?

WeRobotics is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to bringing developing countries access to robotics technology. Such countries don’t have access because of economics, supply chains and many other reasons. Our role is to help local people learn and use this technology, and then to deploy it for social good projects within their own communities.

We do this by establishing ‘flying labs’ in different countries. The goal of each is to serve as a hub of robotics technology, where staff host training sessions, webinars and teach people how to use technology. Each lab will have drones and software, on hand and in the cloud, thanks to our technology company partners. Labs will also function as an incubator for new, local, drone-based businesses.

WeRobotics co-founder Adam Klaptocz (right) and Nepal Flying Labs Coordinator Uttam Pudasaini, running a drone mapping training session in Kathmandu, Nepal.

And who is behind WeRobotics?

We have four co-founders; myself and Sonja Betschart are based in Switzerland, and Patrick Meier and Andrew Schroeder, who are based in the U.S. We are a 501c3 non-profit organisation in the United States and have just founded a sister organisation in Switzerland too. Besides that, all of our flying labs will be legal entities as well, to go along with the concept of building local capacities and driving local engagement.

The goal is to engage local lab coordinators, local organisations, and ideally make the local flying lab its own organisation that has its own activities and is sustainable

The goal is to engage local lab coordinators, local organisations, and ideally make the local flying lab its own organisation that has its own activities and is sustainable
The goal is to engage local lab coordinators, local organisations, and ideally make the local flying lab its own organisation that has its own activities and is sustainable

And you’re talking about unmanned robots in their most general sense, not just as a synonym for flying drones?

That’s right. At WeRobotics, we’re looking at robotics in the largest sense—it’s not just eBee drones for mapping, it’s also things like drones for delivery, marine robots, underwater robots, and terrestrial robots. Anything to do with robotics and the technical ecosystem that goes around it. That includes the software and the platforms people use to share a drone’s data because, in the end, drones are just a tool for collecting and turning the data into actionable information.

We have tech partners, such as senseFly and other drone and software companies, with whom we are spreading this technology throughout our network of labs. The labs will then run training programmes, serve as incubators for locals who want to get into the business, and host conferences where these adopters can share their experiences.

So do you already have your first lab set-up? Where is that?

Absolutely, we’re a young NGO, but we’re trying to expand quite quickly.

Our first lab was officially launched recently in Nepal. It’s called Nepal Flying Labs. We have a local lab coordinator there and we’ve partnered with Kathmandu University, ICIMOD, which is a mountain and glacier study organisation, NAXA and Medair. We’re working with government agencies as well, including the survey department of the Nepalese government. So we have a certain number of partners that we’re working with to roll out projects and run trainings.

We have projects that will be running throughout the next year in Kathmandu and the surrounding areas; a lot of which is post-earthquake reconstruction work after last year’s earthquake. Also, a lot of climate-based research work.

That must be ground zero, that region, for such scientific study?

Exactly. Nepal is basically a giant mountain so the effects of climate change are really affecting communities there. There are a lot of landslides – the Himalayas are melting, the glaciers are melting – so there is a lot of work to be done in terms of disaster prevention and also in post-disaster reconstruction.

And in Tanzania, where we are setting up more flying labs. I know there’s already been a lot of work there by senseFly, Drone Adventures [case study], The World Bank and other organisations. We’re hoping to work with these organisations and others to consolidate a lot of the work that’s been done; to make it sustainable for years to come within Tanzania.

Our third major lab that we are setting up before the end of the year is in Peru. In Peru, we will start in the Amazon. Our first pilot project there is about drone delivery, but we’ll also be spinning out drone mapping as a business and other types of robotics as well.

In the countries where you operate, is one of the groups you’re engaging with the government itself? Do you see your role to also help governments regulate the use of drones?

The mandate of each flying lab, as an NGO, isn’t to replace government, it’s to help.

So the first thing to do is to work with the government and try to help boost, for example, its capacity for mapping. That’s something that we believe in strongly. We’re already working with the survey department in Kathmandu and we’ll be working with the Lands Department in Tanzania as well to try to reinforce their capacity to serve their own people. On top of that, of course, we want to be able to work within countries – within the rules of those countries – and so we’re trying to help with regulations, by working with the regulatory authorities in all of these countries.

A lot of developing countries are looking for guidance from other countries – where robotic technology might be a little more established – to see what is happening. That’s another thing that we hope, as an international NGO with locations all around the world, we’ll be able to facilitate—helping governments to learn what works in other countries, such as those our network covers, and helping them to work together, often with the civil aviation authority and other government agencies. It’s about implementing rules that make drone use responsible, but also leave the market open so that we can incubate businesses. Like that, the economy can develop around this technology instead of being blocked.

You mentioned before we started recording that the key, underpinning what WeRobotics is about, is building capacity on the ground.

Yes, that’s the key, local capacity. It shouldn’t have to be that a bunch of foreigners come in to do this work whichever way they want, often with their own desires, with their own culture and their own needs. Basically, making themselves feel good about helping instead of actually helping.

What would be best, if this ever happens again in Nepal, is that there are enough drone companies locally that know what they’re doing, and understand the legal framework within the country, so that they can do the job instead of having to bring in foreigners. And that goes for every country. I think that, in development, the more local capacity you build, the more you can really bring the country out of poverty so that it can have its economy self-sustain itself.

That’s our goal with the flying labs: to build self-sustainable local entities that build local capacity but have global contact with other labs and with our global technology partners.

What specific UAV platforms do you operate at present and how are these being used?

I truly believe that every job has a tool that’s best adapted to it. In Nepal, right now, our flying lab has aneBee and a Parrot Bebop drone. The eBee is used because Nepal is obviously very mountainous and having the capacity to deal with 3D flight mapping is very important.

Meanwhile, in Tanzania there are larger, mainly flat zones to be mapped. For that we have a Sky-Watch Cumulus drone. This is a longer-range drone that can fly for two hours and cover very large areas. So there that’s the best adapted drone. We’re also bringing a Bebop to Tanzania, because there is a big interest in drone journalism there and for that it’s important to have something that is small, cheap and easily deployed.

Then in Peru, we’re working with hybrid drones that are made more for cargo delivery. One option isQuantum Systems, which is a German company that makes even bigger, VTOL drones with an even bigger payload capacity.

So, different drones for different jobs.

100% platform agnostic.

Yes. One of our goals as an NGO is to remain more or less independent of technology. What’s important is that the job can be done with the best fit technology, in an economically viable way. We need UAVs that are easy to use, easy to train on, and relatively mature as well.

One of our goals as an NGO is to remain more or less independent of technology. What’s important is that the job can be done with the best fit technology, in an economically viable way.

We do work with some startups, but in general what you really need, if you want to make something work in the jungles of Papua New Guinea or in the middle of the desert somewhere, is a machine that’s durable and that has existed for a little while. A platform that has some sort of customer support is needed too, so it’s important that our technology company partners are happy to be involved as well.

If you imagine a few years down the road, having achieved your short and medium term goals, how does the world of WeRobotics look then?

We see ourselves, a few years down the road, having many flying labs around the world. We’re not sure if we’ll have five, or ten, or if there’ll be 50, but the goal is that we have setup a network of many flying labs in different countries.

And you’re planning on developing some in-house engineering capacity too?

Yes, because there are many problems, like conservation in developing countries, which can be solved with existing technology. But there are also many problems that can be solved with technology, but the technology doesn’t exist yet, because the people developing the technology—whether it’s Silicon Valley, China, or Europe—aren’t necessarily aware of the problems that exist in developing countries.

Whatever works, whatever’s needed to meet your goals on the ground then?

Yes. Unfortunately, there is no lack of work in development. Poverty is not disappearing next year. It’s not a market that you have to grasp today otherwise tomorrow it has been taken over. There is a huge amount of work left to do, and there’s definitely enough to go around.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• Cargo drones deliver in the Amazon rainforest
• The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 2/13/17
• The art of drone flight: Creating drone costumes
• The Monospinner: world’s mechanically simplest controllable flying machine
• Flying cars are coming, what will they mean?

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