People in central Japan are testing a drone to see if it is capable of preventing the theft of fruit from orchards. A local agricultural cooperative in Toyota City, Aichi prefecture, teamed up with farmers and a robotics firm in nearby Nagoya City.
In the outskirts of Toyota City, a licensed pilot made sure the drone automatically took off from its base station, flying a pre-determined course over the orchard for several minutes before returning. The camera drone system was originally intended to protect crops from wild animals and birds.
The system's developer says it will work to come up with ways to automatically alert security firms if an intruder is detected.
The agricultural cooperatives said that as of 2021, there were nine cases of fruit theft in Toyota alone, with fruit worth over 100,000 yen, or 670 dollars, being taken at one time.
Source: www3.nhk.or.jp