Short Summary
We are building an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform for park rangers in South Africa to use in the fight against rhino poaching. We are participating in the "Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge" which is a competition to provide park rangers with a bird's eye advantage against poaching syndicates pushing rhinos to extinction.
By the numbers rhinos are on track, if unaltered, to be largely extinct by 2020. Exotic animal poaching is an exponentially growing global problem. The rise of economic prosperity in countries like Vietnam has provided a new community of wealthy and misinformed buyers who believe (erroneously) that ground rhino horns cure things like cancer and hangovers. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates each year the black market trade of illegal wildlife and timber to be between USD $7-23 Billon. As of August 26, 695 rhinos in South Africa have been killed this year.
We are excited to be developing advanced technology for a real and very current world problem. The good guys on the ground need our help and we're designing a system for our UAV to track rhinos and detect those that threaten them more efficiently and effectively than they can do today.
Our project will make security teams faster and more effective. Our UAV system maximizes the chances of tracking rhinos and identifying threats around them. Armed with overhead camera technology and RFID detection (the tags used to track animals and registered humans in the park) our UAV will allow rangers a broad reach to patrol huge expanses of land they couldn't do otherwise. Our system specializes in an algorithm to optimize the mission plan based on real time data attained and previous matches. The batteries are strong enough to allow for 3 hours of uninterrupted service.
We need your help to finish our work.
What We Need & What You Get
We are asking for your help to meet our goal of $13,300! Your contribution goes towards:
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The last stages of development for our unmanned aerial vehicle. Through our own volunteered time and personal contributions, we have developed our airframe, autopilot, and communications. We are currently working on our embedded systems and need to purchase an RFID antenna to detect tagged rhinos in the park.
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Getting our team to South Africa. We need to get the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge to show off our UAV system and save rhinos. (Airfare and ground travel for our six person team adds up quickly!)
In return, our team is excited to make you part of our journey:
- $10 Donation - Personalized thank you email from Oxpecker UAV. You're on the team and we're really excited to have you on the team.
- $25 Donation - Personalized thank you email and a social media shout-out on Facebook and Twitter.
- $50 Donation - All of the above plus exclusive digital access to our team's photo journal we've been collecting.
- $75 Donation - All of the above plus a postcard direct from the team at the competition in South Africa.
- $100 Donation - All of the above plus a custom designed Oxpecker UAV T-shirt.
If we don't reach our entire goal, our first priority is finishing development. Once we have a competition ready UAV system, we will send as many of our team members as possible to compete in the challenge.
The Impact
The impact of this project is huge. We're part of a global competition with over a hundred teams with a mission to disrupt the global supply chain of the illegal rhino trafficking.
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't donate please help!
- Help make some noise about Oxpecker UAV!
- Use the Indiegogo share tools and make is easier for other to find us!
Thanks so much. We look forward to having you become part of Team Oxpecker UAV! Together we can tackle this challenge.