UK engineering company CAL International and Australia-based GreenTech start-up AirSeed Technology have announced a tech project aimed at planting 100 million trees using drone technology over the next two years.

CAL International was approached to help refine the design of the user interface and manufacturability of AirSeed’s existing seed pod delivery system.

The AirSeed drone uses artificial and data intelligence and is a payload and delivery system that identifies and locates designated target areas with GPS coordinates and then fires carbon pods onto the ground at a rate of two-per-second.

The carbon pods are then pinpointed on the mapping system in line with the flight trajectory, which also considers wind variables and conditions on the day of planting. This allows the drone to return on a reconnaissance flight via the same route to then identify and map tree growth.

“When AirSeed explained what they hoped to achieve, it was a challenge that we were delighted to take on,” said CAL International founder and engineer, Cliff Kirby. “The huge significance and impact that this innovation can bring in the fight against climate change is truly global. Together with AirSeed based in Australia and South Africa and CAL based in the UK, this is a global collaboration and the very definition of the art of the possible.

“The collaboration between CAL and AirSeed will ultimately mean that each drone can deliver two pods per second over a designated area, planting up to 40,000 pods in a day. Through rapid automation and scale of the process, it can cover and penetrate a much wider geographical area.”

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