Edinburgh Napier University

  Welcome to the UK-RAS White paper Series on Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). This is one of the core activities of UK-RAS Network, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). By Bringing together academic centres of excellence, industry, government funded bodies and charities, the Network provides academic leadership and expands collaboration with industry while integrating and coordinating activities across the UK.

This white paper explores the opportunities for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to transform biodiversity monitoring. Biodiversity conservation has never been more critical than it is now in the face of numerous threats, not least with climate change, pollution, diseases, etc. As humans, we depend on and benefit from ecosystems that are fully functioning. But how can we monitor species efficiently and effectively? We have already seen the exciting potential that RAS offers for monitoring in marine and aerial environments. Terrestrial environments present particular challenges when trying to collect data at scale and at a community- based level across species. RAS could overcome some of the current drawbacks in terrestrial monitoring, but we need a better understanding of how best to deploy RAS in often extreme environments.

The UK-RAS white papers serve as a basis for discussing the future technological roadmaps, engaging the wider community
and stakeholders, as well as policy makers in assessing the potential social, economic and ethical/legal impact of RAS. It is our plan to provide updates for these white papers so your feedback is essential - whether it be pointing out inadvertent omissions of specific areas of development that need to be covered, or major future trends that deserve further debate and in depth analysis.