A Pennsylvania educator is studying how drones can be used to both distribute pest control products and be used to get a wider grasp on crop management:
"Drones can augment crop management efforts by providing a snapshot of the entire crop’s condition from a 300-foot view in high-resolution images, which can later be stitched together to make a mosaic that the farmer can use to make decisions on when and where to spray pesticides or apply herbicide treatments."
Do Drones Have A Place In Professional Pest Control?
In recent years, their popularity has been on the rise. People are coming up with more creative uses for them and that does not exclude pest control. Many people are arguing that the use of drones is the future of and will streamline the pest control process by allowing companies to cover an immense amount of square footage in a record amount of time. Michael Godfrey, a man from Australia devised a means of putting beneficial bugs into a drone to be distributed over his cornfields. This increased his coverage span to 12 acres in just 15 minutes! Read more here.
Their "tick rover," with an impressive success rate of 75 to 100 percent tick elimination, uses a permethrin insecticide. This chemical, normally handled only by professionals would be inserted into the rovers and used during monthly treatments via pest control companies. They say, "Homeowners could schedule their monthly clearing with the local franchise and never have to be concerned with purchasing or maintaining the robots." Another company, in Singapore, argues drones have a place in the future of pest control by eliminating human risk. They plan to have drones explore hard-to-reach or what could be deemed "dangerous" locations. This includes high-up locations, such as roofs or gutters, and potentially precarious situations like active hives and nests. Instead, the technicians would operate the drones and administer any treatments from both safe heights and distances. This would significantly decrease the likelihood of job-related injuries.
What does this mean for our future?
Although Go-Forth doesn't offer robotic services yet, we continue to make advancements toward offering you the best and safest pest control options. But with continuing advancements in technology, who knows, maybe soon a fleet of Go-Forth drones will be servicing an area near you!