TECH

Researchers create robot to "valorize and monetize" forests
In statements to Lusa, Filipe Neves dos Santos explained that the robot, developed by the institute of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto together with the Forest Association of Portugal (FORESIS), will allow "to value the forest and show that there is a new way of use of forest biomass "."Our forest is poorly managed and has little economic value. The operations currently being carried out are not very profitable, since much of the work is done manually and with very heavy machinery," he said.The robot, which began to be produced a year and a half ago, weighs a ton and aims to replace the machinery currently used, making the process of cleaning and collecting vegetation more automated."The robot is placed in the space where it wants to collect the biomass and there it works alone, taking the material to the berm and making a pile, then it goes back to the place where it started, but in the first phase it will always be seen by an operator, revealed.According to Filipe Neves dos Santos, the team predicts that next year the robot can be tested "in more real environments, with slope and dense vegetation", because "at this moment the tests are still performed in the laboratory and are very controlled.""In a year, we predict that the robot can be tested on FORESIS forest properties in Viana do Castelo and near the city of Vigo, something that will be very interesting because the slope of the terrain is 30%," he added.
The BIOTECFOR study - a project aimed at maximizing the efficiency of forest resources utilization - also counts on the support of two Spanish partners, the Forest Association of Galicia and the Technology Center of Automoción de Galicia, which are to develop two splitting machines to assist the robot."These two machines are a novelty as they will find themselves on the edge of the forest and crush the biomass collected by the robot until it is in small pieces," he said.According to the researcher, the vegetation collected and then crushed may be used for "greenhouse heating, power generation or incorporation in plastics for the automotive industry"."The Spanish partners have already tested on 10 types of plants, pine, pruning, eucalyptus and bush. The forest material may account for 50-60% of the final product," said the researcher.The robot will be in demonstration at the INESC-TEC exhibitor at Agroglobal, a national agricultural fair, which runs from September 5 to 7 in Valada do Ribatejo, in Cartaxo, Santarém district.


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