The MowHawk improves biodiversity in public spaces
Invasive exotics, such as Japanese knotweed or the giant hogweed, cause native plants and insects to partially or even completely disappear. And reduce biodiversity in the areas where they occur. With the MowHawk, a smart camera system mounted on the arm of a roadside mower, you get more insight into biodiversity, circular processing of roadside clippings and the overall mowing process. Using a camera, the MowHawk can detect, monitor and map invasive exotic species and roadside pollution.
By automating the manual process of detection using the MowHawk, we can work faster, better and more efficiently, thus saving time and money.
By automating processes with the MowHawk, workloads can be reduced and businesses can continue to evolve. Employees who previously performed the executive work that the MowHawk now does can turn their focus to management tasks.
AI will always interpret the same data in the same way. The perception will not be colored by human intervention. Based on what the MowHawk has "learned" about recognizing by certain characteristics, the unrelenting output follows: a Japanese knotweed is not suddenly a daisy.
With the MowHawk, you can inspect roadsides and green spaces not only for the presence of invasive exotics, but also for litter. The latter, of course, does not belong in nature and in roadside clippings. Once the dirt is traced by the camera, it is intercepted and sucked up with a piston mounted on the roadside mower, after which the mower can do its work. For (municipal and provincial) government organizations, this is an opportunity to improve biodiversity.
Invasive exotics, such as water pennywort, water fan or featherweed, proliferate in many Dutch waterways. These fast-growing aquatic plants pose a threat to biodiversity, recreation and boat passage. By using the AI technology we developed for the MowHawk, we can detect these invasive exotic species both from the air (using drones) and below the water's surface at an early stage. Along the water, in monitoring and enforcing the speed of recreational boating, the MowHawk's technology also plays an important role.
More and more conservation and management organisations are discovering the MowHawk. With good ecological management of roadsides and green spaces, the Butterfly Foundation wants to increase biodiversity in the landscape, giving the butterfly population the opportunity to increase. To achieve this, roadsides are mowed in phases with the MowHawk. Using color detection, flowers and plants that attract butterflies are spared.
The origins of the MowHawk's technology lie in smart software, based on AI technology, that allows you to detect objects that you might otherwise overlook. Integrating this technology into a camera creates a system that allows us to capture the presence of invasive exotic species, for example.
The basis of the MowHawk is software that makes it possible to uniquely identify and detect certain characteristic features of objects. Using computer vision (AI) and sensor technology, data is collected.
The hardware used by the MowHawk consists of a camera and the undercarriage of a roadside mower (the cutting arm). The combination of hardware and software is the MowHawk.
The MowHawk (software and hardware) in its most original form is mounted on the arm of a roadside mower. This completes the system and allows us to take the mower into the field or roadside to scan the area for invasive exotics or litter.
The output of the MowHawk consists of the collected data from the surveyed area. Based on this data, we gain insight into the collected data. In the case of the invasive exotics, the collected data provide insight regarding controlling these plants and promoting biodiversity. Data collected by the MowHawk is displayed through PowerBI dashboards and in a GIS System. This geographic information system makes it possible to analyze and share various data such as invasive plants and roadside pollution with other users.
The MowHawk is a co-production of AI agency Datacadabra and Wim van Breda BV, manufacturer of machines for road, verge and ditch maintenance. The software and prototype for the camera was developed by Datacadabra; Wim van Breda BV provided the hardware (camera, chassis and mounting) and domain expertise. The system uses computer vision (AI) and location and orientation sensors to collect data about the roadside.
The MowHawk is a co-production of AI agency Datacadabra and Wim van Breda BV, manufacturer of machines for road, verge and ditch maintenance. The software and prototype for the camera was developed by Datacadabra; Wim van Breda BV provided the hardware (camera, chassis and mounting) and domain expertise. The system uses computer vision (AI) and location and orientation sensors to collect data about the roadside.
Wim van Breda has over 60 years of experience in manufacturing machines for road, verge and ditch maintenance. The Geldermalsen-based company strives to ensure that each machine is used in the most optimal way, so that clients always make progress and achieve the best results. Wim van Breda provides this progress by offering the most effective solutions based on its expertise. Only the best brands combined with the best service can achieve this progress.
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Would you like more information about the (technical) possibilities of the MowHawk? Or do you have a challenge in the field of AI where the MowHawk can play a role? Leave your details here and we will contact you as soon as possible. In the meantime you can click here to download our brochure.
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