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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Robot. AI

Sec. Field Robotics

This article is part of the Research TopicRobotic Applications for a Sustainable FutureView all 8 articles

WildDrone: Autonomous Drone Technology for Monitoring Wildlife Populations

Provisionally accepted
Ulrik Pagh Schultz LundquistUlrik Pagh Schultz Lundquist1*Saadia AfridiSaadia Afridi1,2Clément BerthelotClément Berthelot3,4Dat Ngoc NguyenDat Ngoc Nguyen5Kasper HlebowiczKasper Hlebowicz6Elena IanninoElena Iannino3,4Lucie Laporte-DevylderLucie Laporte-Devylder1Guy MaaloufGuy Maalouf1Giacomo MayGiacomo May7Kilian MeierKilian Meier5Constanza Andrea Molina CatricheoConstanza Andrea Molina Catricheo8Edouard RollandEdouard Rolland1Camille Rondeau Saint-JeanCamille Rondeau Saint-Jean1Vandita ShuklaVandita Shukla9Tilo BurghardtTilo Burghardt5Anders Lyhne ChristensenAnders Lyhne Christensen1Blair R. CostelloeBlair R. Costelloe3,4Matthijs DamenMatthijs Damen2Andrea FlackAndrea Flack4Kjeld JensenKjeld Jensen1Henrik Skov MidtibyHenrik Skov Midtiby1Majid MirmehdiMajid Mirmehdi5Fabio RemondinoFabio Remondino9Tom RichardsonTom Richardson5Benjamin RisseBenjamin Risse8Devis TuiaDevis Tuia7Magnus WahlbergMagnus Wahlberg1Dylan CawthorneDylan Cawthorne1Steve BullockSteve Bullock5William NjorogeWilliam Njoroge10Samuel MutisyaSamuel Mutisya10Matt WatsonMatt Watson5Elżbieta PastuchaElżbieta Pastucha11
  • 1Syddansk Universitet, Odense, Denmark
  • 2Avy, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 3Universitat Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
  • 4Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensbiologie, Konstanz, Germany
  • 5University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • 6Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands
  • 7Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 8Universitat Munster, Münster, Germany
  • 9Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy
  • 10Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya
  • 11University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

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ABSTRACT Lundquist et al. WildDrone The rapid loss of biodiversity worldwide is unprecedented, with more species facing extinction now than at any other time in human history. Key factors contributing to this decline include habitat destruction, over-exploitation, and climate change. There is an urgent need for innovative and effective conservation practices that leverage advanced technologies, such as autonomous drones, to monitor wildlife, manage human-wildlife conflicts, and protect endangered species. While drones have shown promise in conservation efforts, significant technological challenges remain, particularly in developing reliable, cost-effective solutions capable of operating in remote, unstructured and open-ended environments. This paper explores the technological advancements necessary for deploying autonomous drones in nature conservation and presents an overview of the WildDrone interdisciplinary doctoral network. We will discuss the network's approach to integrating drones, computer vision, and machine learning for ecological monitoring and share preliminary results demonstrating the potential of these technologies to enhance biodiversity conservation efforts.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, conservation ecology, Autonomous Drones, Computer Vision, wildlife monitoring

Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Lundquist, Afridi, Berthelot, Nguyen, Hlebowicz, Iannino, Laporte-Devylder, Maalouf, May, Meier, Molina Catricheo, Rolland, Rondeau Saint-Jean, Shukla, Burghardt, Christensen, Costelloe, Damen, Flack, Jensen, Midtiby, Mirmehdi, Remondino, Richardson, Risse, Tuia, Wahlberg, Cawthorne, Bullock, Njoroge, Mutisya, Watson and Pastucha. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Ulrik Pagh Schultz Lundquist, ups@mmmi.sdu.dk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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